Uwazi

Police will summon at least five Free Youth protesters during the Germany embassy rally in Bangkok on Monday after a court on Thursday turned down their request for arrest warrants.

Thung Mahamek police on Wednesday sought to arrest five protesters on sedition and other charges for their roles during the demonstration at the embassy where the protesters submitted a letter to the ambassador.
The five are Patsaravalee Tanakitvibulpon, 25, Korakot Saengyenphan, 28, Chanin Wongsri, 20, Cholathit Chote-sawat, 21, and Benja Apan, 21.

The South Bangkok Criminal Court dismissed the request, citing a number of reasons — the suspects are students, the rally was short, there was no proof they would flee and they have permanent residences.

The court also instructed police to summon them for questioning first.

Later on Thursday, deputy police spokesperson Pol Col Kissana Phathanacharoen said the protesters did not inform police of their rally on that day.

“Unlike the gathering by yellow-clad demonstrators at the embassy earlier on that day, the Free Youth group did not inform the police about their rally first [as required by law],” he said.

He dismissed criticism of double standard since no action had been taken against the yellow group.

On Free Youth planned protests on Thursday, Pol Maj Gen Jirasan Kaewsaeng-ek, deputy chief of Metropolitan Police, traffic might be affected in two locations — Pathumwan intersection, Silom Road (near Wat Kaek) and near NationTV on Bang Na-Trat Highway.

Police have opened a case against four students who were arrested on October 19 after staging a protest against the government and military in the Arakan State capital Sittwe.

“Police have opened a case against them under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code for committing sedition and causing public disturbances,” said lawyer U Kyaw Nyint Maung.

Section 505(b) criminalises statements “likely to cause fear or alarm to the public, or to any section of the public, whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the State or against the public tranquility.” It carries with it a maximum sentence of two years in prison.

Police Major Zaw Naing of the Sittwe Township Police filed a complaint against them on Tuesday and a court hearing is scheduled for November 3.

Dozens of people joined Monday’s protest, which was organised by the Arakan Students’ Union.

Prosecuting student protesters is no way to address their grievances, said the chairman of the Sittwe University Students Union, Ko Toe Toe Aung.

“Those who are doing the prosecuting should be aware that people have voiced criticisms because they [the targets of protest] are doing wrong. If they were not doing anything wrong, we wouldn’t need to stage protests and end up in police stations and prisons,” he said.

Two of the four detained students are also facing lawsuits under the Peaceful Assembly and Procession Law for staging a demonstration against alleged human rights violations in Arakan State in early September.

Recently, two students from the All Burma Federation of Student Unions who staged an anti-war protest in Mandalay were each sentenced to a total of five years in prison and have another court hearing scheduled for October 21.

Beginning in September, more than a dozen people have seen charges brought against them under the Peaceful Assembly Law, the Natural Disaster Management Law and the Penal Code for staging demonstrations against armed conflict, human rights abuses and internet restrictions in Arakan State.

On October 27, Lin Qilei, attorney for Li Yuhan, a female human rights lawyer in her 60’s, announced that the supreme people’s court has rescheduled Li’s case for November 30. Li, who has been detained for more than three years at Shengyang No. 1 Detention Center, suffers multiple health concerns, including hypothyroidism, ischemic heart disease, and stomach problems, requiring daily medications. After a fall in 2018 which led to spinal damages, Li now has to walk with a crutch.

Authorities initially indicted Li for provoking troubles and picking quarrels, but later, added fraud to her charges. As evidence regarding her case has not proved to be sufficient, however, the court has repeatedly delayed hearing her case, blocking her release. After authorities transferred Li’s case to Shengyang Municipal Heping People’s Court on April 8, 2018, the court decided to host the trial on June 8, 2019, now scheduled for November 30. With no verdict after more than three years, supporters suspect officials have targeted and repressed her “simple" case.

During Li’s detention, police have hired the female cell head and other prisoners to torture daily her. Tactics include:

    Forcing her to take cold showers.

    Rationing her food to half of portions other prisoners receive.

    Placing her vegetable/s and fruit on the restroom floor to prevent her from eating it.

    Giving her the previous day’s vegetable/s and fruit after other prisoners intentionally urinated on them;

    Prohibiting her family members from depositing money into her prison account. 

After his last meeting with Li, Attorney Lin also announced that court officials have not addressed his nor Li’s application for bail and compulsory change. Li believes that authorities fabricated charges against her to persecute and suppress her previous work safeguarding other people’s rights.

The judicial department asked Li to write the “confession and acceptance of penalty” letter in exchange for her release, but she refused to compromise her stance. Attorney Lin relayed greetings and concerns from others to Li Yuhan, hoping that she can remain upbeat and able to confront conceivable challenges.

Mixed security forces violently broke up a protest outside the Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh to mark the signing of the Paris Peace Agreement, with two former Cambodia National Rescue Party officials being detained on Thursday to prevent their attendance.

The protest was called by senior leadership of the dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party to mark the 29th anniversary of the Peace Paris Agreement and to protest against China’s potential military presence in Cambodia.

About 30 protestors gathered outside the Chinese Embassy in the capital’s Chamkarmon district, where they were met by dozens of district security guards, uniformed police, and plainclothes security personnel.

“People who protest here with the banners, please leave this area in five minutes,” said an official on a loudspeaker. “If you don’t, we will use administrative measures.”

Protestors continued their protest and called for China to respect the peace agreement and refrain from having a military presence on Cambodian soil. Security personnel then started to drag and carry protestors away from outside the embassy, with these images and videos broadcast on social media platforms.

Three women were dragged onto the back of a flatbed truck used by district guards and another woman was carried away.

The Chinese Embassy did not respond to requests for comment.

Former CNRP members were also marking the peace agreement anniversary in different cities across the world, with Prime Minister Hun Sen warning Cambodians not to protest outside the Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh.

The protestors were reacting to an increasing number of reports suggesting that Cambodia had allegedly signed a secret deal with China to allow a military presence at two likely locations: Ream Naval Base in Preah Sihanouk province and the Dara Sakor Resort in Koh Kong province.

Am Sam Ath, deputy director at rights group Licadho, said the government’s actions had effectively forbidden people from assembling and expressing their views.

“It has become involved with politics now. It affects the freedom of assembly and peaceful protests,” he said.

On Thursday, two former CNRP members were detained and prevented from participating in the protest outside the Chinese Embassy. Vann Sophat was detained by Tbong Khmum police officials at noon, without a warrant, and questioned till 5 p.m., he said. He was released only after signing an agreement promising to not partake in the protest.

“I just wanted to protest, and not start a coup to topple anyone,” he said. “We want people to understand about the Paris Peace Agreement on October 23.”

Vann Sophat was one of seven former opposition officials who was convicted by Tbong Khmum court last month and given a five-year suspended sentence. They were charged with “plotting” to overthrow the government and the case was linked to Sam Rainsy’s unsuccessful return to Cambodia in November 2019.

His former CNRP colleague, Sou Yean, was also detained by Tbong Khmum police on Thursday and remains in detention, according to his family.

Hong Kim Hoeun, Memot district police chief, said he was on a two-day mission to Preah Sihanouk province and refused to comment on the detention.

Pen Rath, Tbong Khmum provincial police head, and court spokespersons could not be reached for comment on Friday.

In a joint statement, journalists’ association CamboJA and the Cambodian Center for Independent Media, VOD’s parent organization, said at least six journalists had been “intimidated and threatened” at the rally.

They were told to give up their phones, stop shooting live video or had their camera taken away, the statement said.

Journalist Gerry Flynn said he was covering the protest for Thmey Thmey on Friday, and was being pushed back from observing the protesters when a walkie-talkie hit him in the face.

He turned around and an officer yelled at him, he said. A U.N. observer at the scene intervened, and told him that the guard had shouted, “Better watch out because you’re in the land of Cambodians,” Flynn said.

A freelance cameraman he was with also had his lens grabbed, and authorities tried to get into the cameraman’s bag, Flynn added.

Khan Leakhena, a VOD reporter, said she saw a protester fall on the sidewalk, and pulled out her phone to take pictures. A man in civilian clothes approached her, shouting and ordering her to stop shooting, and tried to grab the phone from her, Leakhena said.

Mech Dara, another VOD reporter, said he and several other reporters were repeatedly ordered to stop filming, including a journalist working for Reuters.

An Asia spokesperson for Reuters declined to comment. The Khmer Times has not responded to emailed questions. The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights also did not respond to questions.

Chanyada, the deputy governor, on Saturday denied knowledge of the incidents and referred questions to the City Hall spokesperson.

City Hall spokesperson Met Measpheakdey said he did not know the details of what happened on Friday and did not answer questions about the deputy governor being personally involved in the harassment.

“Generally, I can say that journalists have the right and ability to take pictures if it doesn’t affect or block authorities from implementing their duties,” Measpheakdey said.

CCIM’s media director, Ith Sothoeuth, said the work of journalists was supposed to be guaranteed under law. “These threats will further pressure and restrict the freedom of journalists in Cambodia.”

Nop Vy, CamboJA’s executive director, said the authorities’ actions were “unacceptable.”

“This is a sign of unacceptable intimidation as journalists were fulfilling their professional work,” said Vy, who was CCIM’s previous media director. “Authorities likely consider journalists to be an important observer who make it difficult for them to crack down on protesters.”

According to the Criminal Code, extortion — the act or attempt to obtain any asset by violence, threat of violence or coercion — is punishable by two to five years in jail.

Pinaki Bhattacharya is an online human rights and political activist who writes critically about the current Bangladesh Awami League government. He was forced to leave Bangladesh in 2018 fearing detention by the military intelligence agency Directorate General Forces Intelligence and he now lives in France where he is a refugee. He has written an article for Netra News about the censorship of a book he wrote critical of the country’s independence leader.

Earlier today he wrote a Facebook status concerning harassment which his family is facing in Bangladesh

With Pinaki's permission, we are publishing his Facebook

Yesterday, a group of policemen went to my father's residence in Bogura and interrogated my old mother and uncle. In Dhaka, another group of police, who said that they were from Mirpur Model Police Station, landed in our residence. After they failed to find my wife at home, one police officer called her up on her mobile yesterday and interrogated her.

During the interrogation in Bogura, the policemen sought to know if I own any property there, what I do in France, how I earn my living, or support my life, among other queries. They also took the contact details of many of my relatives.

The police officer, who called up my wife, asked her in which clinics or hospitals she worked as a doctor and if and how she maintained communication with me. The officer also said to my wife that he wanted to get some more info about me from her. However, because of poor connectivity the mobile conversation was disconnected halfway. I am sure, police will get back in touch with my wife again very soon and attempt to harass her.

I understand that the Bangladesh Police is trying to catch hold of me. But, why would they interrogate or harass the members of my family for that? I would like to tell the authorities, including the police, that if they want to get info about me they indeed have ways to reach me while I am in France. You may send a message to my Facebook inbox. Your embassy in France can reach me if you want. You may even contact the French government.

If you feel troubled with my activism, you may act against me, if you want. But my family members are in no way connected to my activism? Why are you harassing them? Are the family members of any activist harassed anywhere in the world the way as you are doing in Bangladesh? During the armed struggle, just before Bangladesh was born, the barbaric Pakistani forces kept the family members of the main leader of the Liberation War Sheikh Mujib safe.

I am a political refugee in France. I felt unsafe in Bangladesh and I left my country being scared of my life. I indeed have the right to raise my voice against enforced disappearances, cross-fire killings and other human rights violations perpetrated by the Awami League-led government. I have the political right to speak against the authoritarian rule of Sheikh Hasina. My voting rights have been robbed in Bangladesh- I have the right to be vocal against this. You have no right to stifle my voice. All my activities are in the interest of human rights. You are putting pressure on my family members in a mischievous manner to force me away from activism. This is persecution. This is unethical.

I hope the international community, including the human rights groups, will intervene to help my family stay safe in Bangladesh.

On October 24, Kazakh police officers assaulted Toiken, correspondent for Radio Azattyq, the Kazakh service of the U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, while she was reporting on a peaceful rally in Nur-Sultan, the capital, according to the journalist, who spoke with CPJ via messaging app, and news reports.

“Kazakh authorities must immediately investigate the assault on journalist Saniya Toiken and should hold those responsible to account,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Toiken has been subject to many attacks for her work while doing an important job for the public. Law enforcement should be protecting her and other journalists, not attacking and harassing them.”

Toiken was covering a peaceful rally in support of political prisoners in Nur-Sultan where activists were also selling hand-made items to raise funds for prisoners’ families, according to news reports. Law enforcement officers arrived at the scene, announced that the rally was unsanctioned, and detained some participants, according to the reports. In a video interview with Current Time, a TV network affiliated with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Toiken said she was filming the event on her mobile phone when an officer pushed her to the ground, took her phone, and dragged her toward a police mini bus. She said that after she told the police officers she was a journalist, they released her.

After the assault, Toiken went to a hospital in Nur-Sultan, where doctors documented multiple injuries and bruises on her legs and arms, according to the medical report, a photo of which was posted on Facebook by Nazira Darimbet, the acting director of the Federation of Equal Journalists of Kazakhstan. Toiken told CPJ she filed a complaint against the police officers who attacked her.

In March 2019, police arrested Toiken after the journalist interviewed participants at a rally for better job opportunities in the southwestern city of Zhanaozen, as CPJ documented at the time. The journalist was held in detention overnight, found guilty of refusing to follow police orders, and fined 50,500 tenges (US$134). Toiken denied the charges, claiming that they were politically motivated and aimed at preventing her from reporting, CPJ documented.

CPJ emailed the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan for comment, but did not receive a response.

The Observatory has been informed by the Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) about the arbitrary and incommunicado detention of Mr. Chang Weiping, a prominent human rights lawyer known for taking on sensitive human rights cases and filling lawsuits against companies for discrimination in the workplace against women, LGBTQ+ persons, and individuals affected by HIV/AIDs.

According to the information received, on October 22, 2020, Mr. Chang Weiping was arrested at his home in Fengxiang County, Shaanxi Province, by police officers from Baoji City. Later the same day, Mr. Chang Weiping’s wife received a phone call from a police officer who informed her that her husband had been placed under “residential surveillance in a designated location” (RSDL), a form of enforced disappearance[1].

On October 26, 2020, the Baoji City Public Security Bureau denied two separate requests presented by Mr. Chang Weiping’s lawyers to meet with their client. Furthermore, one of the lawyers was informed that Mr. Chang Weiping was suspected of “subversion of State power” and that the case involved “State secrets”. At the time of publication of this Urgent Appeal, Mr. Chang Weiping had not been formally charged and his whereabouts remained unknown.

Six days before his arrest, on October 16, 2020, Mr. Chang Weiping published a video statement on social media denouncing the physical and psychological torture he had been subjected to while in detention in January 2020, including being tied to a “tiger chair”[2].

On January 12, 2020, Mr. Chang Weiping, was arbitrarily arrested by Shaanxi police and placed under RSDL in an unknown location on charges of “subversion of State power” (Article 105(1) of China’s Criminal Law), in connection to a private meeting organised by academics, human rights lawyers and activists in December 2019 in Xiamen, Fujian Province, to discuss the situation of the rule of law and human rights in China.

On January 13, Mr. Chang Weiping’s license to practice law was cancelled. Previously, in October 2018, the Baoji City Judicial Bureau had suspended his law license in retaliation for his human rights work.

On January 21, Mr. Chang Weiping was released on bail pending trial. Nonetheless, he was requested to leave his city of residence and was confined to his family home in Baoji, where he remained under strict police scrutiny, including daily phone calls and weekly meetings with the police. Furthermore, he was prevented from being reunited with his family.

The Observatory expresses its utmost concern over the arbitrary arrest and detention of Mr. Chang Weiping as it seems to be only aimed at punishing him for his legitimate human rights activities and urges the Chinese authorities to immediately disclose his whereabouts and unconditionally release him and all other human rights defenders, including labour rights defenders, arbitrarily detained in the country.

CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, Front Line Defenders, FIDH, in the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, the World Organisation Against Torture(OMCT), and the International Service for Human Rights strongly condemn the deliberate targeting of human rights defender Muhammed Ismail and his wife Uzlifat Ismail, the parents of woman human rights defender Gulalai Ismail. The authorities must halt the ongoing judicial harassment against Gulalai Ismail and her family, which is a direct reprisal due to her human rights work. Gulalai has multiple criminal complaints filed against her, including under regressive anti-terror laws. Since she was forced to leave Pakistan due to concerns for her safety, her parents have been targeted under the Penal Code, anti-terrorism laws and cyber security legislation. In the most recent incident, Pakistan authorities approached the Anti Terrorism Court in Peshawar, and filed a new case with charges that include sedition and terrorism. On 30 September 2020, the court charged the three defenders.

Muhammed Ismail is the Secretary-General of the Pakistan NGO Forum (PNF), an umbrella body of civil society organizations (CSOs) in Pakistan. He has been critical of human rights violations in the country, particularly the treatment of his daughter, human rights defender Gulalai Ismail. The woman human rights defender and her family have been targeted by Pakistani authorities in response to a speech she made in 2019, criticising the state/military response to the rape and murder of a minor girl. Since then, several First Information Reports have been subsequently filed against them, forcing Gulalai Ismail to leave Pakistan for her safety.

On 2 July 2020, the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Peshawar had acquitted Gulalai Ismail and her parents, Muhammad Ismail and Uzlifat Ismail, of charges related to financial terrorism. Two months since, the authorities moved the court and filed the same case with additional charges of terrorism, sedition and conspiracy against the State.

On 30 September 2020, the Anti-terrorism court in Peshawar heard the case and charged Muhammad Ismail, Uzlifat Ismail and Gulalai Ismail under Sections 11-N, 124-A, 120-B of the Pakistan Penal Code, which relate to sedition and criminal conspiracy, and 7(g)(i) of the Anti-terrorism Act of 1997. These charges carry heavy prison sentences. The defenders pleaded not guilty and are to appear for their next hearing on 26 October 2020.

Further to the court case, the Federal Bureau of Revenue has sent over ten letters to Muhammad Ismail and his wife, Uzlifat Ismail, asking them to file taxes for the past six years. However, Muhammad Ismail has not been running any business and does not have a regular monthly income and his wife is a home maker. The last date to file the tax was mentioned as 31 August 2020, however, the letters were only received on 1 September 2020. The family believe that this delay was intentional to further target them with additional legal proceedings.

Less than a year ago, on 24 October 2019, Muhammed Ismail was forcibly abducted from outside the Peshawar High Court by unidentified men. He was later found in the custody of Federal Investigation Agency’s Cyber Crimes Unit. He was charged under the Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act for “hate speech” and “spreading false information against government institutions”. The defender was granted conditional bail after spending a month in detention. However, on 20 April 2020, the defender was summoned for a court hearing after the Federal Investigation agency filed an appeal at the Peshawar High Court to revoke the conditional bail that was granted to the defender on 25 November 2019.

Muhammad Ismail and Uzlifat Ismail have also been placed on a government Exit Control List (ECL), preventing them from leaving Pakistan. Uzlifat Ismail has been unable to renew her passport as a result of her being placed on an ECL. Both, Muhammad and Uzlifat Ismail, suffer from serious medical conditions including hypertension, diabetes and kidney issues.

The actions of the Pakistani authorities in its targeting of the family are an attempt to silence Gulalai Ismail and punish her for advocating on human rights in Pakistan. Front Line Defenders, CIVICUS, FIDH, the World Organisation Against Torture(OMCT) and the International Service for Human Rights urge the authorities in Pakistan to immediately drop all charges against Muhammad Ismail and Uzlifat Ismail, as we believe that the human rights defenders are being targeted solely as a result of their legitimate and peaceful work in the defence of human rights. We urge the authorities to remove all restrictions on the free movement of Muhammad Ismail and Uzlifat Ismail, and cease all further forms of harassment against the defenders, as it is believed that these measures constitute a direct violation of their rights.

On 20 October 2020, the Court of Appeal in Phnom Penh denied the bail motion against the detention of three human rights defenders from Mother Nature Cambodia; Thun Ratha, Long Kunthea and Phoung Keorasmey. They were charged with “incitement to commit a felony or social unrest” on 6 September 2020. The charge is based on information they shared on social media about their plans to organise a one-woman march to the Prime Minister’s house to raise environmental concerns over the filling in of the Boeung Tamoke lake in Phnom Penh. The defenders are currently under pre-trial detention at Phnom Penh's Correctional Centres 1 and 2.

The Human Rights Defenders’ Alert (HRDA) on October 29, 2020 urged the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to ensure the physical safety of journalist S. K. Lenin his family from corrupt panchayat leaders in Nagaram village of Tamil Nadu.

The organisation requested the Director General of Police (DGP) to initiate an inquiry into the physical and verbal assault on Lenin by Panchayat leader Gopi Krishnan on August 2 whom the journalist had named in his report on corruption in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (MNREGA) run by the Union Ministry of Rural Development.

Similarly, they also demanded an inquiry against District Collector Uma Maheshwari for ignoring corrupt activities practiced by local authorities under the MNREGA and for ignoring Lenin’s complaints about the same.

The undeterred journalist approached the local Vadakadu police station instead who arrested Krishnan. However, when nothing was done about the rest of the panchayat members, Lenin chose to go into hiding fearing the political power of those involved.

“Whatever scam they will do, we will share with you, you jobless reporter. You are a human rights activist; you are not a big shot. Even if you give a complaint to the district collector you can do nothing to me nor shake me,” Krishnan had said outside a local shop, while leaving blood marks around Lenin’s neck.

The HRDA condemned the incident as a criminal act that barred journalists and similar Human Rights Defenders from exercising their right to dissent against a public official enshrined within Article 19(a), Freedom of Speech and Expression, of the Indian Constitution.

“If journalists are physically assaulted when they criticise politicians and public officials, seldom journalists will dare to take a stand and the fourth pillar of the democracy will be crushed further,” they said.

On August 1, Lenin collected information about corruption in the MNREGA – a government scheme that aims to help underprivileged people find a job, especially during COVID-19. He said that these jobs are vulnerable to corrupt practices by some panchayat members who show fake accounts to manage salary transfers to people who have not done any work.

Lenin also mentioned that corruption within the MNERGA scheme has been happening at Nagaram village for some time as per panchayat leaders Mr. Ramaiah and Muthuraj Durai.

The members of Makkal Pathai, a not-for-profit organisation based out of Chennai, have been on a hunger protest against National Eligibility cum Entrance Examination (NEET) in their offices in Chennai over the past week. On Sunday, the seventh-day of protest in Chennai, the members were forcefully dragged away by the police. Members also allege that the police misbehaved with them. Koyambedu police have lodged about 30 members at a kalyana mandapam while six who were on the hunger-protest have been admitted to Kilpauk Medical College (KMC). No case has been registered.

Visuals shared on Makkal Pathai’s Facebook page shows police forcefully entering into the office premises following which members are dragged out. They can be heard condemning police brutality.

Sharing voice notes from KMC where about six of them are currently kep, member Chandra Mohan (41) says, “We have been continuing our hunger protest for six days. They have hit us and admitted here at KMC. Women’s clothes were lifted, they were shamed, we were shamed and we have been brought here. We condemn this brutality.”

In an audio note, Chandra Mohan says the members have rejected IV fluids and are still fasting in the hospital. "We gave our word to the people. We will continue our fasting until they tell us." He further alleges that the police have ransacked their office in Chennai taking away phones and computers.

Speaking to TNM, Koyambedu police station Inspector K Madeswaran says no complaint has been filed on the members but their protest had to be stopped since it was a health risk. “We have been asking them every day to stop their hunger protest. Moreover, groups of people gather there on a regular basis. Press is invited and this crowding of people is a risk especially due to the pandemic,” he tells TNM.

“We have not registered any case against them yet because they are giving us their details. They are requesting for the Chief Minister to come down in person to listen to their demands and scrap NEET,” he adds.

When asked about allegations of women being harassed the officer says, “We only tried to end their fasting. Even though they have not eaten in six-days, they put up a good resistance.”

Vignesh, the coordinator from Coimbatore says, “We are holding a one-day fasting protest here in Coimbatore office. Police have arrested our members who were holding hunger-protest for six continuous days in Chennai. We condemn this.”

A court in Ayutthaya on Saturday rejected a police request to detain three protest leaders currently in a Bangkok hospital after an eventful night that followed their temporary release from custody.

The court said the investigation was already done, so police could proceed with the case without having to detain them, and since they were in hospital they were not flight risks.

Doctors at Praram 9 Hospital said that the three — Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak, Panusaya “Rung” Sithijirawattanakul and Panupong “Mike” Jadnok — would need two or three more days to recover from their recent experiences with law enforcement.

Police still have ample opportunity to make fresh arrests once the three are discharged. All told, there are 80 active warrants related to various offences connected with recent pro-democracy protests, according to Pol Maj Gen Piya Tawichai, deputy metropolitan police chief.

Pathumwan police, it turns out, were already on the case. Their officers were en route to the hospital around 6pm to charge Ms Panusaya, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (THLR). It said on Twitter that its lawyer, who represents Ms Panusaya, had been informed.

Six police oficers were standing guard near the three suspects' hospital rooms on Saturday.

Mr Parit and Ms Panusaya were taken to Praram 9 Hospital at around 4.45am on Saturday after they had been questioned by Ayutthaya police at the Pracha Chuen police station in Bangkok following their release from remand prison.

Mr Parit was injured with several glass fragments on his body and Ms Panusaya was exhausted. They joined Mr Panupong, who had been released at the same time and brought to the hospital earlier after fainting while in police custody.

At a briefing on Saturday, a team of doctors at the hospital said Mr Panupong suffered several minor cuts from glass fragments. He was very weak and physicians are checking what caused his blackout.

Mr Parit, who has asthma, also had cuts on his limbs and some glass fragments were found on his body. Ms Panusaya was suffering from severe dehydration and chronic sleep deprivation and was on a saline drip.

All three need at least two to three days to recover, the doctors said.

Pheu Thai MP Tossaporn Serirak and Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, a former MP of the now-defunct Future Forward Party and cofounder of the Progressive Movement, accompanied them to the hospital in the same van.

Their supporters who had been waiting at the police station left after the leaders told them to return home.

Ayutthaya police on Saturday morning visited Mr Panupong, who was suffering from a lack of oxygen, at the hospital, seeking to detain him. Mr Panupong refused to be held, saying the arrest began at the Bangkok Remand Prison, not at the hospital, and he had the right to be treated there, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR).

Late Friday afternoon, the Criminal Court had granted bail to the three student activists and Patiwat Saraiyaem, another protester, after repeated appeals by their lawyers. They had been in jail for 16 days.

Mr Panupong, Mr Parit and Mr Patiwat were detained at Bangkok Remand Prison and Ms Panusaya was at the Central Women’s Correctional Institution nearby.

Mr Patiwat walked out of Bangkok Remand Prison around 8pm to cheers from supporters waiting to greet him outside.

He frantically told the waiting crowd that the other three had been taken from their cells by three men in civilian clothes while prison officials did nothing.

The men were later identified as plainclothes police officers who acted on arrest warrants for the activists’ roles during rallies in Nonthaburi, Ayutthaya and Ubon Ratchathani provinces.

However, their lawyers, citing Section 68 of the Criminal Procedures Code, argued the warrants were no longer valid since they had already acknowledged and denied the charges while at the Border Patrol Police Region 1 and the Bangkok Remand Prison.

Pol Col Ittichet Wonghomhuan, the Pracha Chuen police superintendent, said his team acted on the warrants of Nonthaburi, Ayutthaya and Ubon Ratchathani police, who had not revoked them yet.

While the lawyers were still talking to some policemen at the prison, the plainclothes officers took Mr Parit and Mr Panupong away through a secondary gate without anyone knowing, according to TLHR. Another van took Ms Panusaya from the women’s prison.

The van, with broken windows, took Mr Panupong and Mr Parit to the station at 9.30pm. Police did not allow them to get out at first since around 50 of their supporters were gathering there. Mr Parit shouted that Mr Panupong needed an ambulance immediately.

At 10pm, an ambulance took an unconscious Panupong to Kasemrad Pracha Chuen Hospital. He was later transferred to Praram 9 Hospital.

At the police station, Mr Parit said he and Mr Panupong resisted arrest because the people who took them did not wear uniforms and tried to illegally detain them. However, they were dragged by the neck to the van. Mr Panupong passed out later in the vehicle, Mr Parit claimed.

He said the supporters who were following them tried to ask the police to stop the van so Mr Panupong could get medical help but the officials refused to do so.

According to Internet Law Reform Dialogue (iLaw), some interviews and video clips showed what happened during the trip to the police station.

The van carrying Mr Parit and Mr Panupong stopped at a red light at the Pongpet intersection, followed by a few people on motorcycles believed to be their supporters.

Mr Panupong and Mr Parit shouted to them that they had been forcibly and illegally taken. Their supporters tried in vain to talk to the officials before attempting to break a window, allegedly to help the pair.

As the van driver tried to get away, the vehicle hit at least two other motorcycles nearby. One of the motorcycles fell in front of the van but the van driver ploughed on, dragging the smaller vehicle for around 200 metres. The owner of the damaged motorcycle, who was not a protester, later filed a complaint with police.

After their temporary release on Friday, four other protesters remained in jail as of Saturday.

At Bangkok Remand Prison, Ekkachai Hongkangwan has been imprisoned since Oct 12 on charges related to the royal motorcade, Arnon Nampha has been held since Oct 15 on sedition charges, and Somyot Prueksakasemsuk has been detained since Oct 16.

At Bang Kwang Prison, Suranart Panprasert has been held at since Oct 21 on charges in connection with a royal motorcade.

The Criminal Court on Monday denied bail for Panupong "Mike" Jadnok, Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak and Panusaya “Rung” Sithijirawattanakul in a renewed attempt by their lawyers.

The court said there was no reason to change the previous order which denied the temporary releases of the trio due to concern they would repeat the alleged offences.

Mr Panupong and Mr Parit are detained at Bangkok Remand Prison and Miss Panusaya is at the Central Women's Correctional Institution nearby.

Mr Panupong was charged with inciting unrest or sedition under Section 116 of the Criminal Code. He also faces charges of violating the Act on Ancient Monuments, Antiques, Objects of Art and National Museums, and violating Sections 116 and 215 for his role in installing a new plaque to symbolise people’s power at Sanam Luang on Sept 19.

Mr Parit and Miss Panusaya — Thammasat University students — were also charged with sedition, as well as other charges for their roles in the Sept 19 rally at Sanam Luang.

Their lawyers tried to offer higher cash bond for their bail in the hopes of getting them out after the Court of Appeal on Saturday denied them bail.

In any case, their lawyers do not give up and will apply for bail again, starting from the lower court.

"Even though physically, I remain in jail, my heart goes wherever you are," the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights quoted Ms Panusaya as saying after the court decision.

Her statement is clearly directed at student-led protesters.

During a previous visit a few days ago, TLHR described the yong activist as "drastically changed", with her hair cut short and dyed black. The prison administration said later her hair was trimmed for hygiene reasons.

They called for the releases of all detained activists and resignation of the prime minister as a pre-condition for a proposal by Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha for all sides to take a step back.

The Court of Appeal has denied bail for anti-government protest leader Arnon Nampha, who is charged with sedition over the rally at Thammasat University’s Tha Prachan campaus and at Sanam Luang on Sept 19-20.

The court upheld the lower court's refusal to allow the temporary release of the human rights lawyer. The decison was read out at the Criminal Court on Wednesday, according to Thai media reports, but not made public until Friday.

Mr Arnon, 37, is charged with sedition under Section 116 of the Criminal Code in connection with the anti-government demonstration at Thammasat University's Tha Phrachan campus and Sanam Luang on Sept 19-20.

On Oct 27, Chana Songkram police took him to the Criminal Court and obtained permission to detain him. His lawyers applied for bail, but it was denied. They appealed.

The Court of Appeal denied bail on the grounds the alleged offences could lead to damage or disruption with a wider impact. In taking to the rally stage, the accused had persuaded people to destroy state property without respect for the law.

The court also took into consideration police investigators’ opposition to the suspect's release on bail because he also faced similar charges filed by other police stations.If he was released on bail, he might cause more damage or try to flee.

The court found the lower court's decision to refuse bail was justified.

Mr Arnon is being detained at Bangkok Remand Prison.

On Sept 20, pro-democracy protesters staged a ceremony to install a plaque at Sanam Luang declaring the people’s power and ownership of the country. It was removed by unknown people next morning.

The original plaque marked the 1932 Revolution, which overthrew the absolute monarchy and ushered in a constitutional monarchy, and was planted on the ground at the Royal Plaza.

It was removed without explanation in 2017, three years after the military took power in a coup, and no one in authority has ever said why or what happened to it.

Anon Nampa, a pro-democracy protest co-leader, has been detained in another case right after a court temporarily released him on bail in one.

The human rights lawyer was taken to Bangkok on Monday afternoon after the Chiang Mai Court approved a second round of his detention and released him on bail for a surety of 200,000 baht, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.

The money reportedly came from the fund raised by a network of academics.

Mr Anon was detained after the release by Chana Songkhram police for his involvement in the Free Youth rally on Sept 19 at Thammasat University and Sanam Luang.

He was brought to the capital in a van, accompanied by a lawyer. It remained unclear whether he would be held at the Chana Songkhram police station or at the Border Patrol Police Region 1 headquarters in Pathum Thani province.

Mr Anon was arrested during the crackdown of a rally near Government House in Bangkok in the early hours of Oct 15, shortly after the serious state of emergency was declared in the capital.

Police acted on a warrant by Chiang Mai police for his role during a rally at Tha Pae in the northern province on Aug 9. He was charged with sedition under the Criminal Code, the penalty of which is up to seven years in jail.

Mr Anon was the first who publicly spoke about the need for the reform of the monarchy in decades. He advocated the changes in line with democracy with the King as head of state.

A teenage Hong Kong activist was charged on Thursday with secession, the first public political figure to be prosecuted under a sweeping new national security law Beijing imposed on the city.

Tony Chung, 19, appeared in court charged with secession, money laundering and conspiring to publish seditious content, two days after he was arrested in a Hong Kong coffee shop opposite the US consulate.

Chung is a former member of Student Localism, a small group that advocated Hong Kong's independence from China.

The group disbanded its Hong Kong network shortly before Beijing blanketed the city in its new security law in late June but it has kept its international chapters going.

The legislation outlawed a host of new crimes, including expressing political views such as advocating independence or greater autonomy for Hong Kong.

Chung and three other members of Student Localism were first arrested by a newly created national security police unit in July on suspicion of inciting secession via social media posts.

However, Chung was arrested again on Tuesday morning by plainclothes police just metres away from the US consulate.

A little-known group calling itself Friends of Hong Kong put out a statement shortly afterwards saying it had been trying to arrange for Chung to enter the US consulate that day and apply for asylum.

Chung was held by police until his appearance in court on Thursday morning. He was denied bail.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) launched a major crackdown on terror funding in Jammu and Kashmir and conducted raids on NGOs and journalists across 10 locations in Kashmir and one in Bengaluru on Wednesday morning.

NIA sources have said terror operations were being funded by sourcing funds from foreign countries in the name of business, religious works and other social works by these organisations in Jammu and Kashmir.

The probe agency raided NGO Athrowt at Nawakadal, the Greater Kashmir office at Press Colony and the residence of activist Khurram Parvaiz, among other places.

Sources told India Today TV that the money came through hawala channels from different parts of the country and abroad and was being used to fund terror activities in Kashmir through NGOs.

"These NGOs were not registered. That means they did not have the FCRA license, yet they were getting funds from Pakistan and Europe, and even countries like Fiji and East Timor," the sources said.

The NIA sources said that the probe agency is looking at two aspects - terror funding and secessionist activities.

In a statement, NIA said, "This case was registered by NIA on 8/10/2020 u/s 120B, 124 A IPC and sections 17, 18, 22A, 22C, 38, 39 and 40 UA(P)A, 1967 on receipt of credible information that certain NGOs and Trusts are collecting funds domestically and abroad through so-called donations and business contributions, etc and are then utilizing these funds for secessionist and terrorist activities in J&K."

"Those whose premises have been searched include residence and office of Khurram Parvez (co-ordinator of J&K Coalition of Civil Society), his associates viz. Parvez Ahmad Bukhari, Parvez Ahmad Matta and Bengaluru-based associate viz. Swati Sheshadri; Ms. Parveena Ahanger, Chairperson of Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons ( APDPK) and offices of NGO Athrout and GK Trust," said the NIA.

The probe agency said that the raids were conducted after specific inputs and more NGOs are also under scanner. The documents and phones seized will be sent to the forensic lab, the sources said.

The NIA sources told India Today TV that the case was registered last week, but was not mentioned on the NIA website to maintain confidentiality. The NIA raids were led by the IG and DIG, who flew Srinagar specially for the raids.

Slamming the move, former J&K chief minister and PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti has said, "NIA raids on human rights activist Khurram Parvez & Greater Kashmir office in Srinagar is yet another example of GOIs vicious crackdown on freedom of expression & dissent. Sadly, NIA has become BJPs pet agency to intimidate & browbeat those who refuse to fall in line."

Authorities in Vietnam’s southern province of Dong Nai have arrested local resident Nguyen Quang Khai on the allegation of “Deliberate disclosure of classified information; appropriation, trading, destruction of classified documents” under Article 337 of the Criminal Code with potential imprisonment of between two and ten years.

According to the notice sent to his family dated October 21, the Security Investigation Agency of the Dong Nai province’s Police Department detained Mr. Khai in an urgent case for the act of copying and disseminating state secrets on his Facebook account Khai Nguyen.

Mr. Khai’s family said that the Dong Nai police detained him to a police station in the morning of October 20 for interrogation and kept him overnight. The next day, police came to his private residence and handed over a notice of arrest to his family. Currently, the 51-year-old freelance worker is held in a temporary detention facility under the authority of the province’s Police Department.

Mr. Khai’s wife has a small food outlet and he helps her run the facility. He often shares and comments on the statuses of other Facebookers, mostly focusing on the corruption of state officials at different levels. He has also participated in charity events to support vulnerable people in their locality.

It is unclear what information he has shared can be classified as state secret information.

Dozens of Vietnamese Facebookers have been arrested or convicted with lengthy imprisonment for their online posts since the communist regime passed the Cyber Security in early 2018, according to Defend the Defenders’ observation.

Authorities arrested on Sunday, Oct. 25, an Igorot woman leader who has been consistent in defending their ancestral land in Lubuagan, Kalinga.

According to the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA) and the Cordillera People’s Alliance (CPA), a composite team from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), Philippine National Police and Philippine Army came to the Western Uma and Lower Uma villages at 4:00 a.m. to search several houses, including that of Beatrice Belen, a leader of Innabuyog-Kalinga, the local chapter of Gabriela.

Belen, her husband and her two children were led outside of their home before the search was conducted. The police later claimed they found firearms and explosives, and proceeded to arrest and detain Belen at the Tabuk City Jail. The CHRA said Belen has been placed in a cell with male detainees.

In a statement, Cristina Palabay, secretary general of Karapatan, condemned the arrest of Belen. “Like other activists who were arrested on questionable legal bases, Belen has asserted that those allegedly seized in her home were not hers nor of any member of her family,” she said.

Palabay noted that before the incident, Belen was tagged as a communist by soldiers belonging to the Philippine Army’s 503rd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army.

The arrest of Belen, Palabay said, is a “very clear example of the dangers of red-tagging, resulting in violations to the right to life, liberty and security of human rights defenders, including indigenous women human rights defenders who are fighting for their communities’ land, resources and rights.”

Staunch defender of ancestral land

In a statement, the CPA said that for decades, Belen has shown strong leadership in her community against destructive projects.

In 2012, the CPA said that Belen led the campaign against Chevron Energy company’s geothermal power project in Kalinga, “citing detrimental effects of the said project to lives and health of the community members, especially women and children.”

In 2018, Belen was awarded Gawad Bayani ng Kalikasan (Environmental Hero) for her sustained defense of their ancestral land from destruction by private companies.

The CPA further said that as Belen has continued to oppose the geothermal project and human rights violations in their village, harassment and threats against her also persisted.

Palabay called for the immediate release of Belen. She added that placing Belen in a cell with other male detainees is in direct violation of the Nelson Mandela Rules or the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.

Palabay said that the overcrowded and unsanitary prisons in the country are among the “most vulnerable places for women, where numerous forms of sexual violence are most likely to happen.”

Karapatan said Belen is the most most recent among Gabriela’s regional leaders who have been arrested on “fabricated charges.” Last July 7, Gabriela’s national vice chairperson, Jenelyn Nagrampa was also arrested in Camarines Sur.

Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Arlene Brosas also expressed strong condemnation of Belen’s arrest.

“Facing a stinging rebuke of their red-tagging spree, the military has resorted to the use of state terror and naked force in silencing women’s rights defenders with the arrest of Manang Betty [Belen],” Brosas said.

Brosas appealed to the public to “strongly denounce Belen’s arrest in the same way that we stand for celebrities who are red-tagged by the military.”

Brosas lambasted the police and military “for once again planting evidence to detain another woman leader,” citing the cases of Reina Mae Nasino and Cora Agovida.

Based on Karapatan’s documentation, there are 102 women political prisoners, most if not all are women human rights defenders, who are languishing in various jails and detention centers in the country.

A group of slogan-raising men had assembled outside the residence of lawyer Deepika Singh Rajawat in Jammu late on Tuesday night, a day after a cartoon she posted on micro-blogging site Twitter stirred controversy.

Rajawat, who received limelight for representing the victim’s family in Kathua rape and murder case in 2018, told NewsClick that a mob gathered outside her accommodation, raised slogans and gave her death threat by chanting “Deepika teri kabar khudegi, Jammu Kashmir ki dharti pe (Deepika your grave will be dug in the land of Jammu and Kashmir).”

Narrating the sequence of events, Rajawat said that it was 12.30 am in the night when she heard few men shouting her name. “I was scared to death. I alerted my PSOs and phoned IG Jammu who responded immediately and sent police who later cleared the mob,” she said.

The cartoon posted by Rajawat, with a caption “Irony,” juxtaposed two paradoxical scenes: in one scene, a man touching feet of a female Hindu deity during the nine-day Hindu festival of Navratri; in the other scene, with the header “Other Days,” the same man is aggressively holding both legs of a woman, depicting sexual violence.

The cartoon was accused of hurting Hindu religious sentiments resulting in a section of social media users demanding Rajawat’s arrest. Since then, as per Rajawat, she and her family have been receiving calls threatening her to remove the cartoon and tender an apology.

“Don’t rapes happen? If they can prove that rapes don’t happen in India then I will tender a public apology. I have also not removed the cartoon as it was not meant to hurt religious sentiments but to highlight the hypocrisy of the society towards women,” Rajawat said.

Rajawat personally identified the mob as related to right-wing Hindu groups and said that it was an attempt to silence her. “At that time, I felt like Gauri Lankesh. Her image kept crossing my mind. I was shivering,” the lawyer said. Gauri Lankesh, a journalist known to be critical of the right-wing and accused of “outraging the sentiments of Hindus”, was shot dead by bike-borne assailant outsider her residence on September 5, 2017.

Much solidarity with Rajawat has also poured in from several sections including Bollywood actors, directors, lawyers, and opposition leaders who are tweeting using the hashtag #IStandWithDeepikaRajawat.

In 2018, Rajaswat faced a similar backlash when she took up the case of a minor Bakarwal girl who was raped and murdered in Kathua. She was then accused of being “anti-Hindu.” Later, the victim’s family had removed her from the case by accusing her of “not attending the court proceedings.”

Rajawat believes that she has been targeted for being vocal against policies of the present government. “They wanted to threaten to silence me as I am vocal against the Modi government and its policies.”

In Jammu, which has a prominent presence of right wing politics, it has become risky to voice dissent, especially after the abrogation of Article 370 last year. Last month, a young man popular as the Mask Man was taken away by the police and was released after being questioned for hours after he silently held a placard questioning the government and its promises.

A march to Government House on Wednesday night ended with an arrest of a pro-democracy activist, just hours after PM Prayut Chan-o-cha said on a live address that everyone should “take a step back” from the brinks.

Patsaravalee “Mind” Tanakitvibulpon, 25, was arrested at a cafe near Victory Monument while she was on the way from a protest close to PM’s office, fellow activists said. Police said there was an outstanding warrant for her arrest. Patsaravalee was released on Thursday morning.

“This arrest does not make me afraid. This is an unlawful arrest,” Patsaravalee said as she was being taken away by police. “I know this is the government’s game.”

The arrest was made by Police Lt. Col. Suriyasak Jirawat, who said Patsaravalee was wanted with 11 other suspects for leading a protest on Oct. 15 at the Ratchaprasong Intersection. She was charged with violating the emergency decree.

When reached for comment on Thursday, Lt. Col. Suriyasak said he does not know if the 11 others have been arrested yet.

Patsaravalee was released without having to post for bail, since the Pathumwan Circuit Court said she was a student studying for her finals and therefore is not considered a flight risk.

Prior to her arrest, Patsaravalee was one of the activists who marched to Government House from the Victory Monument in a bid to demand PM Prayut’s resignation. The crowd dispersed without incidents after submitting an ultimatum that called upon Gen. Prayut to resign within three days, or face another round of protests.

In a speech broadcast live on TV Thursday night, Prayut said the government is willing to make a compromise, but added that the protests should stop and let the Parliament debate their grievances.

“The only way to a lasting solution for all sides that is fair for those on the streets as well as for the many millions who choose not to go on the streets is to discuss and resolve these differences through the parliamentary process,” he said.

But Pannika Wanich, a co-leader of the opposition group called Progresive Movement, said an arrest of a student activist just after Prayut’s speech showed the government was being insincere.

“I thought you said we should take a step back and discuss in the Parliament instead. The PM’s words are just empty mouth air,” Panniwa tweeted. “You are stepping into and infringing on citizens’ rights.”

On September 11, the day after protesters distributed anti-war material in Mandalay, Chan Aye Thar-Zan Township police in Mandalay briefly detained and charged ABFSU member Myo Chit Zaw, 21, and filed charges against 12 others for failing to notify the authorities in advance of the September 10 protest. On September 13, police briefly detained and charged ABFSU Central Executive Committee members Soe Hla Naing and Kyaw Thiha Ye Kyaw on the same charges.

Prominent land rights defenders from the Southern Peasant Federation of Thailand (SPFT), Surat Thani Province, have faced another attempted murder and series of threats to life from intense land disputes that pitched communal peasant communities against the multinational companies and State agencies.

The latest threat occurred in the early morning of 20 October 2020, at about 01.00 am. Members of the SPFT reported the incident that in Santi Pattana Community a man believed to be employed by the company, Mr. Sompon Chimruang, pointed a firearm at the head of Mr. Dam Onmuang member of Santi Pattana community and attempted to kill him. Mr. Dam however avoided the shot causing the bullet to miss. The gunman Sompon Chimruang escaped by driving away.

7:30 am on 20 October 2020, Mr. Dam Onmuang and members of the Santi Pattana Community travelled to Bang Sawan Police Station in Bang Sawan Sub District, Phra Sang District, Surat Thani Province, to file a complaint on the attempted murder.

The police have gone to the scene while Mr. Sompon traveled to surrender himself at Bang Sawan Police Station.The police are trying to mediate the case between both parties.

The Southern Peasants Federation of Thailand (SPFT) was officially formed in 2008. The SPFT is an umbrella organisation comprised of 5 communities that inhabit and cultivate public land while advocating for land reform and self-determination over natural resources. The SPFT has repeatedly faced serious human rights violations: members have been murdered, attacked, threatened and criminalized.

Over the past ten years, Women / Human Rights Defenders of the SPFT have encountered different types of violence, including assassination, forcible eviction, arbitrary arrest and detention, destruction of properties and crops, intimidation, and judicial harassment. All communities reported that they have been threatened by unidentified armed groups which the community members believe are connected to some extent to palm oil companies, local influential groups and other business sectors. Apart from intimidation such as random gunfire into communities at night, destruction of houses and crops, and trespass by local influential groups with soldiers, four members of Klong Sai Pattana Community have already been assassinated, two of whom were women.

The Criminal Court today ordered broadcaster Voice TV to halt all online operations after finding it guilty of computer crimes and violating the state of emergency.

The court made its ruling, which affects the independent broadcaster’s website and social media, based on evidence presented by the Digital Economy and Society Ministry, according to ministry official Putchapong Nodthaisong.

“Its Facebook page will be closed within 3 to 4 days. There is no specific date,” he said, citing a provision that service providers must page content that is deemed to instigate the public.

He said the ruling only applied to online because broadcast was the purview of state telecom regulators.

“Television is the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission’s responsibility, so they have authority to revoke the license.”

Voice TV at 1:30pm said it had yet to receive the order and defended its commitment to fairness and a free press.

“Throughout 11 years, Voice TV has been a media outlet that upholds democratic values,” the station said via Facebook. “We openly, transparently provide a space for the public, and we are responsible to report every fact from all sides … We demand the authorities involved exercise their power fairly.”

Voice TV, founded by a son of an ousted prime minister, is a frequent target of the military-backed regime and has been ordered to cease broadcasting in the past. On Monday, it was one of four agencies the police ordered investigated and shut down in the face of swelling protests across the nation against the government.

Putchapong weighed in with his opinion that the channel had violated the emergency decree, put in place over the capital Thursday, because its broadcast persuaded people to join the mass gatherings.

The government has refused to back down in the face of protests it has been unable to contain and has moved to muzzle coverage it does not deem favorable.

Yesterday, police ordered that four news agencies – Prachathai, The Reporters, The Standard and Voice TV – be investigated and shut down, as well as the page of main student activist group Free Youth. However, today’s court ruling only applies to Voice TV.

Yesterday, a number of media associations lodged formal protests against the move.

Two key student activists were freed on bail last night only to be immediately detained again.

Panusaya “Rung” Sithijirawattanakul and Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak were taken to the Border Police Bureau Region 1 in Pathum Thani province and, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, face another three to four charges each. The movement had demanded the release of all those detained last night, teasing a “big surprise” that turned out to be nothing more than a provocation to keep security forces on their toes.

At 10am this morning, protest organizer Free Youth was teasing the public again, this time that noon would bring an “important announcement.” The group also vowed “no tricks” this time.

While unprecedented displays of anger toward the monarchy have been displayed in the street, movement leaders maintain that they simply want reforms of the institution.

“The people’s demands are not to overthrow, but to offer a solution that brings Thailand back to a democracy where the kings are truly under the constitution,” Free Youth wrote this morning via Telegram.

One of their primary targets – Prime Minister Gen. Prayuth Chan-o-cha – said yesterday that the government’s primary responsibility is to “protect the monarchy.”

As to the controversial order for Voice TV to shut down, Prayuth asked the police to reconsider. However, he said any media agency found to spread “fake news” or have bad intentions should be censored.

Yesterday’s “big surprise” at 6pm was a fake out, but pro-democracy supporters at 6pm flashed three-finger salutes, sang the national anthem and denounced feudalism at BTS stations throughout the capital.

The country’s oldest hospital, Siriraj, announced that it would treat every patient equally and without discrimination “regardless of their political stance.” Its statement came days after police in full riot gear shot water cannons – believed to be mixed with a chemical irritant – to disperse the crowd on Friday.

With nearly 400 doctors nationwide signing in a joint statement demanding the authorities refrain from violence, at least one doctor was fired from Mongkutwattana General Hospital with the hospital’s director reasoning they he doesn’t tolerate employees “allied with the king’s enemies.”

The 17 October protests: 8 people were arrested. 6 were charged in Bangkok and taken for questioning at the Border Patrol Police Region 1 headquarters in Pathum Thani. 1 was charged over his participation in a 22 August protest in Ubon Ratchathani, and another was charged and questioned at Pattaya Police Station for violating the Computer Crimes Act.

By 18 October, 81 protestors, activists, guards, students and truck drivers have been arrested in connection with pro-democracy protests, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR).

TLHR records that as of 12.00 on 18 Oct, 80 people had been arrested and 1 more was added to the count after a voice amplifier truck driver was arrested later that night as he returned from the protest at Victory Monument. He was charged the next morning and his voice amplifier equipment and truck were seized.

76 have been charged, 27 are currently in temporary detention and 8 are still in police custody.

The 16 October protest at Pathum Wan intersection where the police dispersed protesters using riot control and high-pressure water cannon: 12 were officially arrested including a Prachatai reporter, Kitti Pantapak, whose Facebook live report was interrupted as police grabbed his device. Kitti was released with 300 baht fine for defying a police order.

Another 3 were arrested and/or charged on 16 October for an incident on 14 October. Boonkueanoon Paothong and Ekkachai Hongkangwan were charged with harming Her Majesty the Queen's liberty under Section 110 of the Criminal Code. They were accused of blocking the Queen’s royal procession. Another was Somyot Prueksakasemsuk for his participation in the 19 September protest.

Somyot and Ekkachai, former lèse majesté prisoners, were denied bail and remanded at the Bangkok Remand Prison. Boonkueanoon was allow bail.

The Thai authorities have issued an order under the Emergency Decree for the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) and the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (DES) to investigate and possibly suspend four online media outlets: Voice TV, Prachatai, The Reporters, and The Standard, as well as the Facebook page of the student activist group Free Youth, for their coverage of the recent protests in Thailand.

The order, dated 16 October 2020, was issued by police chief Pol Gen Suwat Chaengyodsuk, who was appointed the chief official in the severe state of emergency, and states that “it appears that there was a broadcasting of content that affects state security, peace and order, or the good morals of the people”, and that the NBTC and the DES have been ordered to investigate and to stop the broadcasting or order the removal of such content.

However, as of 9.50 on 19 October, the order had yet to be published on the Royal Gazette website.

The Reporters reported at 10.40 today (19 October) that DES Minister Puttipong Punnakanta confirmed that there was an order for the Ministry to investigate the four media outlets and the Free Youth Facebook page.

Puttipong also said that he has tasked the DES Permanent Secretary with pressing charges against social media users who have broken the law between 14 – 18 October 2020, and that the DES is investigating at least 300,000 URLs.

At 12.36, The Reporters reported again that DES Deputy Permanent Secretary Putchapong Nodthaisong said that the Ministry has already requested a court warrant and is ready to shut down any media outlet that violates the Emergency Decree if it receives an order. He also said that the Ministry may request to check an outlet’s equipment, suspend it, or confiscate its equipment, but whether a journalist reporting the content in question would also face charges has to be decided based on the journalist’s intention.

However, assistant national police chief Pol Lt Gen Jaruwat Waisaya told the Reporters that the order to investigate the media outlets mentioned above is not currently enforced, but that the police have asked the NBTC and the DES to investigate some of the content published by Voice TV, Prachatai, The Reporters, The Standard, and Free Youth’s Facebook page, as there was a complaint that these outlets published content that affected national security, peace and order, or the good morals of the people. He claimed that the authorities are not trying to obstruct press freedom or shutting down media outlets, but are only notifying relevant agencies to investigate information that could violate the Emergency Decree.

The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand (FCCT) issued a statement this morning (19 October) expressing concern about the order to investigate the media outlets and the threat to suspend these outlets.

“A free media is an essential element in any democratic society, and bona fide journalists should be allowed to report important developments without the threat of bans, suspensions, censorship or prosecution hanging over them,” says the statement, which also criticized the use of national security as a justification for such threat as “overly broad, and can easily be abused to silence reporting that is accurate but makes the government uncomfortable.”

The statement also says that such move is “likely to be ineffective and counterproductive in an age of social media” and that “it makes the government appear heavy-handed and unresponsive to criticism, and could stir up even more public anger.

“The professional membership of the FCCT urges the Thai authorities to reconsider censorship of media reporting, and drop the threats made against these particular media organisations,” concludes the statement.

The editorial board of Thai Enquirer, another Thai online media outlet, also issued a statement saying that “instead of dialogue, opening up discussion and press, the government has chosen to embrace its authoritarian roots and censor, shutdown, and intimidate journalists working to present the news” and called on the authorities to “rescind the gag order immediately and to engage in dialogue with the press, the opposition and the people.”

A former lawyer from the Arakan State capital Sittwe was charged at the township court under the Telecommunications Law’s Section 66(d), a notorious defamation provision, on October 7.

The accused, U Thar Pwint, said he had shared posts on social media about the deaths of civilians in Arakan State amid ongoing armed conflict in the region.

“I was sued without any reason. If I was sued for sharing posts, the person who put up the post should be the No. 1 accused,” said U Thar Pwint. “Secondly, I was not the only person who shared the post. If there are 20 who shared the post, all these people have to be sued. The reason for me is they don’t like me.”

Major Kyaw Zaw of a local Tatmadaw engineering unit filed the case as plaintiff under Section 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law, which threatens up to three years in prison for anyone “extorting, coercing, restraining wrongfully, defaming, disturbing, causing undue influence or threatening to any person by using any Telecommunications Network.”

U Thar Pwint has been released on bail but will face his first court hearing on October 21.

Another Sittwe resident, U Soe Naing, was sued in August under 66(d) for allegedly making comments about the government on social media.

“There are things relating to the government and there are also things not relating to the government. I was not blaming the government but just commenting as a citizen on what they have said and done,” U Soe Naing said.

“Dear war victims, please honour the government for giving us a bar of soap to protect against coronavirus,” reads one of U Soe Naing’s Facebook posts. “We’d like to know whether the [Chief Minister] U Nyi Pu government, which said it has responsibility and accountability, has any plan to resign or not.”

“The government, the Tatmadaw, the leaders must bear political criticisms,” said Ma Thet Su Pyae Eain, a researcher for the freedom of expression advocacy group Athan. “We criticise the filing of lawsuits under such sections. All the cases filed against them should be withdrawn as soon as possible. Only then can we carry on with good democracy.”

In the first four years of the National League for Democracy (NLD) government’s five-year term, cases involving violations of free expression were filed against 1,051 people, according to a July report from Athan.

Charges brought under the Telecommunications Law topped the list.

Reporters Chitra Mijar, Anish Tiwari and Niroj Chaulagain were misbehaved while reporting in Sindhupalchowk on October 13. Sidhupalchowk lies in Bagmati Province.

Mijar and Tiwari are affiliated to Gorkhapatra and Kantipur National dailies respecively, while Chaulagain is associated with AP1 television.

Talking to Freedom Forum's monitoring desk, reporter Tiwari shared,"We were talking to the families who were forcefully displaced after a hydropower project started road construction without their consent. Meanwhile, a group of youth approached and shouted at us saying - Is this what you called journalism! Don't you have to listen to us?"

The reporters then talked to the youth and collected the voice of both sides.

"But again the youths in a group of 20-25 encircled us for at least two hours while we were heading towards the project site. Thereafter, we returned without reporting at the hydropower project site", said Tiwari. The youths had also threatened the driver for carrying journalists and vandalized their vehicle.

Further, claiming that people threatened and obstructed them while doing their job, Tiwari wondered, "Do we even have the right to report freely?"

They have also filed a complaint at the local police station. The case is under investigation.

Freedom Forum condemns the misbehavior meted out to the reporters. Reporting on the issues of public concern is the right of journalists guaranteed by the constitution. Hence, FF strongly urges the concerned authority to apologize for the misbehavior and respect journalists' rights.

Chinese authorities in the northern region of Inner Mongolia have arrested a human rights lawyer after he refused to send his child to school amid regionwide protests against plans to end Mongolian-medium education.

Police in Inner Mongolia's Tongliao city are have formally arrested Hu Baolong on charges of "leaking state secrets overseas," ethnic Mongolian scholar Khubis, who currently lives in Japan, told RFA on Wednesday.

He said he last had contact with Hu on Sept. 4.

"Hu Baolong protested because his kid was starting primary school this year," Khubis said. "As a father, he was protesting against [the ruling Chinese Communist Party's] 'bilingual education' policy."

"I was told that he was arrested for giving information to foreigners," he said. "But all his messages were on WeChat and were about regular stuff that most people know about."

Khubis said that, last time they spoke, he and Hu had avoided talking about the massive political resistance to plans to end Mongolian-medium education in the region's schools.

"We talked about everyday life; there was nothing secret or sensitive," Khubis said. "I think they are targeting him for taking part in the resistance movement among parents in Tongliao."

Class boycotts and street protests

Nomin, an ethnic Mongolian and former colleague of Hu's now living in the U.S., said she had tried to contact Hu's sister.

"I asked [his sister] if he had been detained and she said yes, he had," she said.

"The Tongliao authorities told some local parents that they detained [Hu] to encourage the local parents to settle down," Nomin said. "This was a couple of weeks ago."

"I learned via a group chat that Hu is being prosecuted and has been formally arrested."

Plans to end the use of the Mongolian language in the region's ethnic Mongolian schools have sparked weeks of class boycotts, street protests, and a region-wide crackdown by riot squads and state security police in the region, in a process described by ethnic Mongolians as "cultural genocide."

Since the start of the new semester, schools that previously offered Mongolian-medium teaching will start using Mandarin Chinese instead, phasing out any Mongolian-language teaching materials, according to local residents and overseas activists who spoke to RFA.

As well as Hu, the authorities have detained a further eight people on suspicion of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," in connection with the schools protests.

Nine deaths so far

According to the New York-based Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center (SMHRIC), at least nine people have died and thousands have been detained as the authorities launched a region-wide crackdown on the protest movement, which organized region-wide class boycotts and street protests in response to the policy change.

An estimated 300,000 students have boycotted class across Inner Mongolia since the end of August, with the authorities claiming the policy is a move towards "bilingual education."

Ethnic Mongolians in the region say it is a form of cultural genocide aimed at cutting off their remaining connection to their culture and heritage.

In several areas, the authorities dispatched SWAT teams, plainclothes state security police, and volunteers to strong-arm families into sending their children back to school, SMHRIC reported.

Parents who failed to enroll their children in school were threatened with having them expelled, while hundreds of ethnic Mongolians were forced to resign from public office after they resisted the changes to the curriculum, which were kept under wraps until the start of the new semester at the end of August.

Hu Baolong is the the founder of Tongliao's Menggali law firm, which mostly provides legal services for ethnic Mongolians, especially members of traditional herding communities.

The authorities had earlier imposed a travel ban on him after he represented a client in a politically sensitive legal case, and Hu was prevented from crossing the border into the neighboring country of Mongolia by border guards at Erenhot in 2010, on the grounds that his leaving would "endanger national security."

According to ethnic Mongolian Tara, Hu was also a veteran of the 1989 pro-democracy movement in China.

"He took part in the student movement in 1989, then went on to found his own law firm in Tongliao," Tara said. "He is a dissident, and advocate for freedom, and has been targeted all along; this time he explained the bilingual education policy to everyone in a WeChat group."

A journalist working with The Caravan magazine was on Friday allegedly assaulted by a senior police officer in North Delhi and detained for nearly four hours while he was reporting on protests against the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl in the area.

“Today [Friday] afternoon, the Delhi Police assaulted The Caravan India’s staffer Ahan Penkar while he was reporting,” the magazine tweeted. “ACP [Assistant Commissioner of Police] Ajay Kumar kicked and slapped Penkar inside the Model Town station premises. Penkar repeatedly told the police that he was a journalist and prominently displayed his press ID.”

However, the deputy commissioner of police, North West Delhi, on Saturday said that Penkar was seen protesting and was detained, after which he had said he was a journalist. The police have sent him a notice on the matter.

Penkar was reporting on a protest concerning the alleged rape and murder of a teenager in North Delhi, the magazine added. “Students and activists had gathered outside the Model Town police station to demand the registration of an FIR in the case,” it said. Caravan also shared a photo of the injuries on Penkar’s back.

Penkar later submitted a complaint to Delhi Commissioner of Police SN Srivastava. The journalist said that he saw a group of people gathered around the police station, demanding that the police file an FIR in the rape case.

Penkar said he was speaking to the 14-year-old girl’s aunt when the police began taking the protestors inside the station. He held up his press card and kept repeating that he was reporting the news, but the police took him inside too.

The journalist said that the police forcibly took his phone from him and deleted all the videos that he had recorded while reporting. “The police was abusing us the whole time and threatening us,” Penkar said in his complaint. “After a little time, the ACP Ajay Kumar came into the room holding a steel rod and threatened to beat us with the rod.”

Penkar added that Kumar kicked him in the face, back and shoulders. He also said that the police officer stamped on his ankle and threatened to register a case against him and others. The journalist added that he also saw the police beat up a Muslim man and a Sikh boy. He demanded an FIR against the police officers who assaulted him.

In August, three journalists from magazine were attacked by a mob in North East Delhi’s Subhash Mohalla neighbourhood while they were reporting on a story.

Journalists Prabhjit Singh, Shahid Tantray and their colleague were covering communal tensions that broke out in the area on the night of August 5, following the foundation-laying ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. In his complaint to the police, Singh said that had he not intervened, Tantray would have been beaten to death by the mob since he was a Muslim.

At a meeting organised by the Press Club of India on August 13, the journalists said that the Delhi Police had been helpless and scared of the mob.

Several journalists’ organisations had expressed outrage over the attack on Singh, Tantray and their colleague and demanded a first information report against the accused. The Editors Guild of India called the attack on the journalists “reprehensible” and demanded that the police take quick action against the guilty.

A Dalit writer and activist, Durai Guna, has been arrested in Tamil Nadu’s Pudukottai district for putting up sarcastic ‘recruitment’ posters — critical of the district administration in a circuitous way — across his native town. The posters are a way to protest against alleged administrative apathy and inaction against encroachment of a waterbody in his village.

The posters appeared as an advertisement and mockingly ‘invited’ candidates for posts ranging from tehsildar to district collector, leaving Revenue officials fuming, according to a senior police officer.

The waterbody concerned — Vettukulam water tank, spread on 3 acres of land — is in Karambakudi village of the district.

The police officer said Guna was arrested late on Tuesday based on an FIR registered under non-bailable charges under IPC Sections 170 (pretending to hold any post as a public servant) and 501 (printing any matter known to be defamatory), among others.

The officer said, “The posters defamed the administration. We received the complaint from a village official, and were told to file a case and arrest him.”

Maintaining that Guna had “motives” to defame the administration when he had proper methods to raise a complaint, District Collector P Uma Maheshwari said, “Now I have decided to book all encroachers (of the waterbody concerned) under Goondas Act.”

The poster — titled “Job Openings, People Needed” — invited honest and efficient candidates for the posts of collector, district revenue officer, tehsildar and village administrative officer in order to revive a waterbody by removing encroachment as per Madras High Court’s order. According to it, qualifications required were “common sense, self-respect and maturity.”

Asked about the arrest on serious charges for what was seemingly a harmless protest criticising the administration, District Collector Maheshwari said, “There were many complaints against him. He was arrested twice for different offences. I am told by the police that there are four FIRs against him and he was let out on bail after arrests on both occasions.”

Stating that Guna never approached her with a petition on the issue, Maheshwari said: “He petitioned the tehsildar. Our officials inspected the land and decided to give two months’ time since they (villagers) had already sown crops for this year.”

In Kyrgyzstan, a number of attacks on journalists and threats to media outlets have been reported since October 4 parliamentary elections, which were voided, followed by nationwide unrest and an ongoing political crisis and state of emergency, according to news reports, CPJ documentation, and a report by the Kyrgyz independent nonprofit organization Media Policy Institute. Yesterday, the Kyrgyz parliament held an emergency meeting and named Sadyr Japarov, a nationalist politician freed from prison by supporters, the country’s new prime minister, according to news reports.

Today, President Sooronbay Jeenbekov resigned, according to media reports.

“It is crucial that journalists can safely and freely cover the political crisis in Kyrgyzstan,” said CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, Gulnoza Said. “Kyrgyz authorities must investigate reported attacks and threats targeting the journalistic community, and put a stop to hostilities toward reporters who are doing their work.”

Radio Azattyk, the Kyrgyz service of the U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and its journalists have faced several attacks, threats, and other attempts to obstruct reporting since October 4, according to Venera Djumataeva, director of the service, who spoke with CPJ in a phone interview, and news reports.

Starting around October 6, Radio Azattyk’s website and its social media accounts have been targeted by thousands of messages, both signed and anonymous, ranging from insults to direct threats to the outlet and its Kyrgyz office, Djumataeva told CPJ.

One of the threats that CPJ reviewed–distributed through the messaging service WhatsApp and sent to Azattyk’s office phone via that app–stated, “Repost! Today, there is a threat of attack on the office @azattykmedia. Currently they only have one guard. Asking for a repost.” Other threats, posted as commentson Azattyk’s Instagram page, said: “Soon people will be destroying your office, Azattyk,” “People will destroy Azattyk very soon,” and “Let’s go to burn down Azattyk.” CPJ reviewed screenshots of all these messages. Azattyk reported the threats to Facebook, which said it is investigating, according to Djumataeva.

Djumataeva told CPJ that Azattyk had recruited volunteers to provide security at the outlet’s office in Bishkek.

CPJ emailed the Ministry of Internal Affairs for comment on the attacks on Radio Azattyk and its journalists, but did not receive a response.

In Kyrgyzstan, a number of attacks on journalists and threats to media outlets have been reported since October 4 parliamentary elections, which were voided, followed by nationwide unrest and an ongoing political crisis and state of emergency, according to news reports, CPJ documentation, and a report by the Kyrgyz independent nonprofit organization Media Policy Institute. Yesterday, the Kyrgyz parliament held an emergency meeting and named Sadyr Japarov, a nationalist politician freed from prison by supporters, the country’s new prime minister, according to news reports.

Today, President Sooronbay Jeenbekov resigned, according to media reports.

“It is crucial that journalists can safely and freely cover the political crisis in Kyrgyzstan,” said CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, Gulnoza Said. “Kyrgyz authorities must investigate reported attacks and threats targeting the journalistic community, and put a stop to hostilities toward reporters who are doing their work.”

Radio Azattyk, the Kyrgyz service of the U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and its journalists have faced several attacks, threats, and other attempts to obstruct reporting since October 4, according to Venera Djumataeva, director of the service, who spoke with CPJ in a phone interview, and news reports.

On October 9, a group of protesters assaulted another Radio Azattyk correspondent, Aybek Biybosunov, who was wearing journalistic protective gear and a marked vest, while he was covering a pro-Japarov rally near the Government House in Bishkek, the capital, according to news reports and Djumataeva. She told CPJ that a group of about five people pulled Biybosunov’s arms and kicked him in the legs, while yelling that Azattyk was not covering the events “correctly” and that they would “show them”; the journalist left the location due to these threats.

In Kyrgyzstan, a number of attacks on journalists and threats to media outlets have been reported since October 4 parliamentary elections, which were voided, followed by nationwide unrest and an ongoing political crisis and state of emergency, according to news reports, CPJ documentation, and a report by the Kyrgyz independent nonprofit organization Media Policy Institute. Yesterday, the Kyrgyz parliament held an emergency meeting and named Sadyr Japarov, a nationalist politician freed from prison by supporters, the country’s new prime minister, according to news reports.

Today, President Sooronbay Jeenbekov resigned, according to media reports.

“It is crucial that journalists can safely and freely cover the political crisis in Kyrgyzstan,” said CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, Gulnoza Said. “Kyrgyz authorities must investigate reported attacks and threats targeting the journalistic community, and put a stop to hostilities toward reporters who are doing their work.”

Radio Azattyk, the Kyrgyz service of the U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and its journalists have faced several attacks, threats, and other attempts to obstruct reporting since October 4, according to Venera Djumataeva, director of the service, who spoke with CPJ in a phone interview, and news reports.

On October 6, an unknown person hit Radio Azattyk correspondent Dastan Umotbai Uulu, who was covering a rally in support of then President Jeenbekov in Osh, Djumataeva told CPJ. The journalist did not say where on his body he was hit, or provide any more information on who hit him, according to Djumataeva. She said the journalist, who was wearing a vest marked “Press” and protective gear, was not injured, but due to the hostile attitude of the protesters he stopped his reporting on that rally and left the location.

Officials in Kyrgyzstan today voided the results of the October 4 parliamentary election after mass protests broke out in the capital of Bishkek and other cities. Members of several opposition parties announced plans to oust the president, according to news reports. Several journalists were attacked while covering the vote and the unrest that has followed, according to news reports and a statement today by the Kyrgyz independent nonprofit organization Media Policy Institute.

“Independent news is essential to the public during these chaotic and quickly moving events in Kyrgyzstan since the parliamentary elections,” said CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, Gulnoza Said. “Kyrgyz authorities should ensure journalists can work freely and safely; law enforcement must stop attacking the press and ensure that protesters don’t target journalists either.”

Today, a law enforcement officer confiscated the phone of Ruslan Kharizov, a correspondent from independent news website 24.kg, while the journalist was using it to conduct a live broadcast of unrest in downtown Bishkek on the outlet’s Facebook page, according to news reports and Kharizov, who spoke with CPJ via messaging app. The officer came up to the journalist, cursed at him, told him that the unrest in the country was happening because of his filming, and forcefully took his phone, Kharizov said. He told CPJ that the officer deleted the last recording before the journalist got his phone back.

Later in the day, several filming crews, including Kharizov and crews from Kloop and Kyrgyz broadcaster 7 Kanal, were denied entry to the Dostuk hotel during an emergency session of the Kyrgyz parliament taking place there, according to Kharizov. Protesters organized to guard the entrance to the hotel and obstruct the journalists, Kharizov told CPJ.

Also today, during a live broadcast in front of Government House in Bishkek, a group of unknown men attacked Kloop’s film crew, according to Kloop, which published video of the attack on Facebook, and other news reports.

Also today in Bishkek, a police officer threw a stone at a journalist from Kyrgyz online broadcaster Vesti.kg, Eldos Kazybekov, according to news reports. The journalist was reporting from the scene of protests when a police officer told him to leave; when Kazybekov told the officer that he was a journalist, the former threw a stone at him, but missed, according to those reports.

As of today, hospitals in Kyrgyzstan have admitted 686 people with injuries of various degrees, according to news reports; it is unclear if there are any journalists among them.

CPJ emailed the Ministry of Internal Affairs for comment, but did not receive a response.

Officials in Kyrgyzstan today voided the results of the October 4 parliamentary election after mass protests broke out in the capital of Bishkek and other cities. Members of several opposition parties announced plans to oust the president, according to news reports. Several journalists were attacked while covering the vote and the unrest that has followed, according to news reports and a statement today by the Kyrgyz independent nonprofit organization Media Policy Institute.

“Independent news is essential to the public during these chaotic and quickly moving events in Kyrgyzstan since the parliamentary elections,” said CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, Gulnoza Said. “Kyrgyz authorities should ensure journalists can work freely and safely; law enforcement must stop attacking the press and ensure that protesters don’t target journalists either.”

Yesterday, special forces in Bishkek, the capital, shot in the direction of journalist Aibol Kozhomuratov, a correspondent from Current Time, a TV network affiliated with the U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, who later wrote about it on Twitter and spoke with CPJ via messaging app.

Kozhomuratov said a law enforcement officer shot in his direction even though he was wearing a special reflective vest designated for media workers and was clearly in the process of filming. The bullet flew a few millimeters above journalist’s head and he “felt it with his hair,” but was unharmed, Kozhomuratov said. Current Time released a video of the shooting on Twitter.

Officials in Kyrgyzstan today voided the results of the October 4 parliamentary election after mass protests broke out in the capital of Bishkek and other cities. Members of several opposition parties announced plans to oust the president, according to news reports. Several journalists were attacked while covering the vote and the unrest that has followed, according to news reports and a statement today by the Kyrgyz independent nonprofit organization Media Policy Institute.

“Independent news is essential to the public during these chaotic and quickly moving events in Kyrgyzstan since the parliamentary elections,” said CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, Gulnoza Said. “Kyrgyz authorities should ensure journalists can work freely and safely; law enforcement must stop attacking the press and ensure that protesters don’t target journalists either.”

On October 4, two unidentified men attacked a filming crew of the independent news website Kloop in the southern city of Osh, according to news reports. As Kloop correspondent Aibike Adilet Kyzy and cameraman Khamidullo Uzakov were filming at polling station No. 5316 in a café, an unidentified man approached them, hit Uzakov, and unsuccessfully tried to take away the phone with which he was filming, while the police officers at the scene did not help the journalists, according to those reports. Later another man, who the journalists had seen with the first attacker, tried to take the phone from Adilet Kyzy, also unsuccessfully, according to those reports. The journalists filed a complaint with the Osh city police, which later detained and interrogated one of the assailants, and began an investigation into the attack as well as the refusal of the police officers at the scene to interfere, according to those reports.

CPJ tried to contact Kloop by email and through Facebook but did not immediately get a response.

On October 4, police officers–who have not been identified–prevented Radio Azattyk correspondent Ernist Nurmatov from entering polling station No. 5303 in the southern city of Osh, where the journalist went to cover the parliamentary elections, according to Djumataeva. Zamir Sydykov, press secretary of the Osh city department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, told Radio Azattyk over the phone that the police had the right to prevent a journalist from entering a polling station, Djumataeva said.

Police in full riot gear have used water cannons to crackdown on thousands of protesters gathering at the Pathumwan Intersection, defying the ban on mass gatherings imposed during the severe state of emergency.

The protest, which was scheduled to begin at 17.00 on 16 October, was originally planned to take place at the Ratchaprasong Intersection, where a mass protest also took place yesterday (15 October) following the crackdown on the protest at the Government House in the early morning of 15 October.

However, by 15.00, police officers have already set up barriers at the Ratchaprasong Intersection and the Pratunam Intersection, blocking off the area. They also blocked smaller streets and stopped pedestrians and vehicles from going into the area.

Police officers also raided the offices of the Progressive Movement, a group formed by banned members of the now-dissolved Future Forward Party, during Piyabutr Saengkanokkul’s press conference.

At 16.30, police in full riot gear were seen lining up at the Ratchaprasong Intersection, blocking off traffic. Officers carrying batons were also seen near the police headquarters.

The student activist group Free Youth then announced that the protest will be moving to the Pathumwan Intersection.

By 17.00, protesters have already occupied half of the intersection, and Phayathai Road was closed from the MBK shopping centre towards the Ratchatewi BTS Station.

Prior to the protest, the BTS Sky Train announced that the Ratchatewi Station and Ratchadamri Station have been closed. After the location change, the Siam Station and the National Stadium Station were also closed. The Bangkok Mass Transit Authority also announced that all public bus and van will not be traveling close to the protest area and will not stop at any stop within the 5-kilometre radius of the Ratchaprasong Intersection. The Samyan MRT Station was also later closed.

At 18.50, as it began to rain heavily, police officers in full riot gears moved into the area near the Siam BTS Station and fired water cannons at the protesters, as well as pushing into them with their shields. There were reports that the water contained chemical irritants and was stained blue with long-lasting paint, as well as reports of the police using a Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD).

On Phayathai Road, a large crowd of protesters, many of whom were high school students in uniforms, ran out from the Pathumwan Intersection and into the nearby Chulalongkorn University, where the student group Nisit Chula Party have designated a safe zone and have been on standby in case of a crackdown. Student representatives stood by the gates with megaphones telling protesters to come inside the campus.

People gathered at the Faculty of Political Science, where student volunteers and several lecturers were handing out bottles of water and organizing people into groups so they can leave through the nearest gate to the closest BTS and MRT stations. They also provided ammonia and water for people who got sprayed with the blue paint to clean themselves, as well as handing out shirts for them to change.

At 18.57, police officers were ordered to drop their shield and arrest the protesters. There were also reports of officers preparing use tear gas on the protesters.

At 19.20, the police reportedly used tear gas in the Siam BTS Station area, according to a nearby Prachatai reporter and an observer from iLaw, who said they were hit with some kind of chemical irritant. A reporter from PPTV who was doing a live broadcast nearby also said that they felt some irritation on their face and in their eyes, and that the water the police fired at the protesters may have some chemical mixed in.

At 21.05, the police ordered all protesters and reporters to leave the Pathumwan Intersection area or be arrested. Five minutes later, they were firing water cannon at protesters on the Rama 1 side of the intersection and moving towards the National Stadium BTS Station.

At 22.25, shield-carrying officers marched to the Hua Chang bridge, near the Ratchatewi BTS Station, where a group of people are still gathering and announced that everyone must leave in 20 minutes. However, at 22.30, police officers fired water cannon at the group. Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) also reported there was an announcement for the protesters, who were pushed back to the Ratchatewi Intersection, to be arrested.

TLHR also said that officers were running after protesters who ran into Soi Phaya Nak and arresting them, and that they also arrested a number of protesters closest to the police line.

At 23.15, traffic resumed at the Pathumwan Intersection.

TLHR said that at least 12 protesters were arrested during the 16 October crackdown and were brought to the Border Patrol Police Region 1 headquarters in Pathum Thani, including student activist Tattep Ruangprapaikitseree, a leading member of Free Youth, activist Anurak “Ford” Jentawanich, and Prachatai reporter Kitti Pantapak.

One of those arrested was an employee at a restaurant near Hua Chang Bridge. He was arrested at around 22.00 and also taken to the Border Patrol Police Region 1 headquarters.

Under the severe state of emergency, the government imposed a ban on gatherings of more than five people, allows state officials to arrest people and detain them for 30 days without informing them of the charges against them, and banned the publication of information that “could create fear,” affect national security, or damage public morale.

The protest organisers issued a statement condemning the use of force against the protesters, and announced that there will be another demonstration on Saturday (17 October) at 16.00 at a location that is still unspecified.

Terai Human Rights Defenders Alliance (THRD Alliance) condemns the cold-blooded murder of an environmental rights defender in Dhanusha district of the Tarai region, Nepal. The 24year-old Om Prakash Mahato was crushed to death by a tipper owned by a crusher company on 10 January 2020 while protesting the illegal extraction of river materials from a river located near his village. We call on the authorities to set up a parliamentary inquiry into the illegal extraction of river materials, review of existing regulations and for the company to provide compensation to the family.

CASE DETAILS On 10 January 2020, Om Prakash Mahato, who goes by the nickname ‘Dilip’, 24, of Mithila Municipality-5, Dhanusha district, was killed while he was protesting the illegal extraction of the riverbed materials from Aurahi River located near his village Shreepur Tol. The night before the incident, someone had informed Dilip that aggregates (sand and stones) were going to be extracted illegally from Aurahi river. Before he left toward the river, at around 4 am, he did not inform his family but he informed the ward chairperson by mobile phone that he was going there to confront the crusher company. His friend, Roshan Yadav, accompanied Dilip. Dhanusha District Police Chief Ramesh Kumar Basnet told the media: “He was manhandled, stabbed in the right side of his stomach with an iron lever, his body was then laid on the river bed, and run over by a truck (number Na 7 Kha 6413). We are further investigating the matter.”1 Meanwhile, Dilip’s family members told THRDA monitors that the contractors intentionally killed him. They informed that Dilip had earlier arguments with local contractors – Janak Mahato, Lochan Mahato and Bipin Mahato – who had threatened to kill him for opposing river extraction.

BACKGROUND Aurahi River lies in Mithila Municipality. The municipality awarded a contract of NPR 40.51 million to local contractors to extract river materials from the Aurahi river. The locals and farmers opposed the extraction of river materials from the deep riverbed which was beyond the permissible limit mentioned in the contract. The contactors were illegally extracting the river materials. The local farmers, including Dilip, whose fields adjoin the river, had been protesting the illegal extraction of the river materials by the contactors since it started two years ago. Dilip had repeatedly received death threats from the contractors throughout this period. He had repeatedly gotten into disputes with the owners and employees of the Churiyamai Sand Processing Centre. When Dilip did not stop his campaign against the crusher company, contractors tried to bribe him but he continued to oppose the illegal mining. The death of Dilip, who was the eldest son, is a major loss to the family. He was expected to work as an engineer soon. He was an engineering student at a university in Bhopal, India and had recently taken the final exams. He had come home to spend his vacation with his family. His parents have worked hard to pay for his tuition in India.

INVESTIGATION AND ACTION Police moved the body of Dilip for the post-mortem without preparing a crime scene report. Irate locals halted vehicle movement on the Mahendra Nagar Highway to protest it. They also demanded a stringent punishment for the killers of Dilip. On 11 January 2020, Dilip’s family lodged the First Information Report (FIR) at the District Police Office of Dhanusha district. Police assured the family that they would investigate the incident impartially and punish those responsible for his death. In a press meeting organized on 11 January 2020, police said that they arrested four persons allegedly involved: 27-year-old Bipin Kumar Mahato (owner of Churiyamai Sand Processing Centre), 34-year-old Munindra Mahato (tipper driver), another driver Jitendra Kumar Mahato (24-years-old) of Bardibas Municipality, Mahato, and 27-year-old Roshan Kumar Yadav (his friend). In a meeting of the National Assembly held on 12 January 2020, lawmakers demanded legal action against the perpetrators2. The National Assembly members also urged the government to curb ongoing illegal extraction of riverbed materials. Meanwhile, Province 2 Government on 13 January announced the payment of an ex gratia of NPR 0.5 million to Dilip’s family. In a statement released on 12 January,3 the National Human Rights Commission called the authorities to carry out an impartial and effective investigation into the case.

CALL TO ACTION Given the contemporary political scenario, human rights defenders (HRDs) in Nepal are at risk while carrying out their work. The actions and controversial bills4 such as Media Council Bill, Information Technology Bill, Nepal Special Service Bill5 introduced by the government have created fear among HRDs. The government also proposed an amendment to National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Act 2012 which undermines the independence of NHRC as it gives the Attorney General powers to decide which cases recommended for prosecution by the NHRC are brought before the courts, and it also abolishes the power of the NHRC to maintain regional offices. About the situation of HRDs in Nepal, Human Rights Watch’s World Report 2020 mentions: The Home Ministry prepared draft legislation that will give the government powers to monitor and control the activity of all domestic and international organizations in Nepal. Human rights defenders feared that these powers will be used to harass activists, and to deny access to external funding for human rights work. As of now, Nepal does not have specific laws or policies on the protection of HRDs. In 2009, the human rights community had drafted a human rights defenders bill7. The bill is yet to be registered in the parliament. But the discussions on the bill are underway among human rights organizations. It is high time that the human rights community and national and international stakeholders lobby the government and policy makers to enact a law on HRDs’ security. The cold-blooded murder of the environmental rights defender sends a chilling message to those carrying out human rights work in Nepal. We urge the authorities to create a conducive environment for HRDs. Despite media reports and ongoing protests staged by locals, the illegal mining of river materials in the country continues unabated. Arguably, the nexus between the contractors and local government units and politicians is responsible for this. Once again, we call on the authorities to set up a parliamentary inquiry into the illegal extraction of river materials, review of existing regulations and for the company to provide compensation to the family.

Two journalists who are in hospital after been violently beaten up and threatened with death while investigating an illegal logging racket, fear for their safety as the assailants are roaming free with apparent protection from authorities.

On 12 Monday afternoon, Shanmugam Thavaseelan and Kanapathipillai Kumanan covering illicit felling in the Mullaitivu district were attacked by illegal loggers wielding clubs and an adze. Most of their photographic evidence was destroyed while they managed to save few video footage.

“The leader of the thugs who attacked us is roaming freely even though there are multiple complaints against him and several arrest warrants,” Thavaseelan who lost a couple of his front teeth had told fellow journalists visiting him in the Mullaitivu District Hospital.

“This shows the level of protection he enjoys. He had an adze in his hand which he threatened to use to cut me down to pieces. If some in the gang did not stop him, I would have been dead by now. If they are not arrested our lives are in danger.”

Four men on motorbikes

The two Tamil journalists were investigating a tip-off about an illegal logging operation in the Murippu forest reserve adjoining a cultivated teak range. While the teak was legally felled by a supplier to the State Timber Corporation (STC) the bordering forest reserve was illegally logged by another who was allegedly introduced to the supplier by the Beat Forest Officer (BFO) of the range. Locals are convinced that the illegal logger was running a timber racket in collusion with the licensed supplier and forestry officials under the guise of supplying legitimate timber to STC.

When Thavaseelan and Kumanan visited the nearby Kumulamuani east, they found a two-floor timber construction within a clearing enclosed in a bared wire fence with teak posts. The journalists estimate that at least 200 logs went to build the enclosure.

Four men on motorbikes confronted the journalists who were filming what they saw.

“We told them that we are hearing about illegal logging and what they have to say about it,” said Thavaseelan.

“Then they beat us up. Kumanan was from that village. They accused him of doing harm to the village and banged him heavily on the head. He started bleeding. I was attacked with an adze. I lost my teeth. The leader threatened to kill us.”

Attacked and robbed

The four forced them to the enclosure, their recordings were wiped off and memory cards were removed. Their money was stolen.

Once inside the enclosure, the attackers filmed the two journalists accusing them of illegal entry and theft.

“I told them that they can lodge a complaint with the police if we have committed any offence,” said Thavaseelan.

The assailants released the two journalists later who lodged a complaint at the Mullaitivu police station and were admitted to the Mullaitivu District Hospital.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has rubbished exposures of illegal logging in forest reserves as “fake news campaigns”. In contrast, Defence Secretary Major General Kamal Gunaratne who admitted in public that the ongoing illegal timber racket is a serious threat to the environment, pledged to take action against it with the assistance of the president’s sibling and State Minister for Internal Security Chamal Rajapaksa.

The Free Media Movement strongly condemns the attack carried out on the Derana TV journalist Indunil Wijenayake in Monaragala, while he was there to cover an incident of unauthorized sand mining in the Kumbukkan Oya.

According to reports we have received, journalist Indunil Wijenayake has gone to report an incident of illegal sand mining around the Kumbukkan Oya. At that time, he was attacked by a group of people who obstructed his attempt to report, and as a result of the assault, he had to be admitted to the Monaragala Hospital for treatment. A complaint has been lodged with the Monaragala Police regarding the incident, and it has been reported that the police have commenced investigations into the incident and arrested one suspect.

During the past journalist have reported on unauthorized sand mining in various parts of the country, and recently with the police media spokesperson stating that those reports were instrumental and extremely helpful in the police investigations, it has validated and acknowledged the importance of the role of journalists.

The Government of Sri Lanka has a responsibility to protect the country’s rare natural resources through local environmental regulations as well as through international conventions.

In such a context, in the past journalists who have been engaged in reporting on the environment have been harassed and threatened on several occasions by people suspected of engaging in crimes against the environment. If the law were enforced adequately concerning such incidents, journalists would not often have to fall prey to these environmental criminals. Therefore, the Free Media Movement calls on the authorities to immediately conduct an impartial inquiry into the incident and enforce the law regardless of the status of the suspects.

The Uttar Pradesh Police has booked Malayalam journalist Siddique Kappan and three others for sedition as well as under the stringent UAPA, a day after they were stopped on their way to Hathras, home to a Dalit woman who died after being allegedly gang-raped. Siddique from Malappuram, Atiq-ur Rehman from Muzaffarnagar, Masood Ahmed from Bahraich and Alam from Rampur have been booked by the Mathura police. Siddique Kappan is a senior Delhi-based journalist, doing freelance work for several Malayalam media houses, including azhimukham.com.

The FIR (first information report) copy, accessed by TNM, alleges that the four men had gone to disrupt the peace in Hathras and there is a big conspiracy behind their visit. The Uttar Pradesh police had earlier said that they had arrested them for having links with the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its affiliate in Mathura. However, the PFI link has not been mentioned in the FIR at all.

The FIR shows that the four have been booked under 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings) and 124A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code, as well as section 17 (punishment for raising funds for terrorist act) and 14 (punishment for unlawful activities) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

All the four have also been booked under section 65 (tampering with computer source documents), 72 (punishment for sending offensive messages through communication service) and 76 (punishment for violation of privacy) of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008.

The FIR also mentions the website, justiceforhathrasvictim.carrd.co, which had information on how to protest safely and avoid the police. The police have stated that the website incites violence and threatens the law and order situation. “The main intention of this website has been found to be to encourage communal hatred, cause unrest in the society and to spark riots on a large scale,” the FIR states, adding that the four have been arrested over “larger conspiracy”. The four accused have been accused of running the website and that it has been created under the garb of 'collecting funds' to incite violence. However, the PFI link has not been mentioned in the FIR.

The Uttar Pradesh police had on Monday said that it seized the mobile phones, laptops and some literature, which “could have an impact on peace and law and order”, from the arrested people. During interrogation, it came to light that the four arrested people had links with the PFI and its associate organisation Campus Front of India, the UP police had claimed.

The Delhi unit of Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath seeking his release, saying he was going to Hathras only to perform his duty as a reporter. Terming Kappan's arrest as illegal and unconstitutional, the KUWJ also filed a habeas corpus petition in the Supreme Court on Tuesday seeking his immediate production before the court and release from the "illegal detention".

Kappan is also the KUWJ's secretary and was proceeding to Hathras only to do his duty as a reporter, KUWJ's Delhi unit president Miji Jose told the Chief Minister in her letter, urging him to order his release.

"We understand that he was taken into custody by Uttar Pradesh police from Hathras toll plaza. Our efforts and the efforts by some advocates based in Delhi to contact him were not successful," KUWJ said.

Hathras has been in the news following the death of a 19-year-old Dalit woman who was allegedly gang-raped on September 14 in a village in the district. And her cremation at night, allegedly without the parents' consent, has triggered widespread outrage.

Elias Mia, a correspondent of Daily Bijoy, was hacked to death on October 12 by miscreants in the Narayanganj district for allegedly exposing a criminal nexus in gas line distribution. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemns the brutal murder and urges the Bangladesh government to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Mia, a 52 year old journalist, was stabbed with a sharp weapon in the Geodhara area of Bandar whilst returning home. Despite the best efforts of passers-by, who took the journalist to Narayanganj General Hospital immediately after the incident, Mia died of his injuries around 9:00pm on October 12.

Bandar Police Station stated that three suspects have been arrested —Tusher, Minnat Ali and Mishir Ali — for their involvement in the killing. Police have presented them before a local court following the incident. The Daily Bijoy editor Sabbir Ahmed argues that there is a strong connection between the murder of Mia and his past reporting. Investigators said one suspect’s family had previously accused Mia of providing information that lead to Tusher’s earlier arrest and detainment for drug possession. Tusher was also allegedly involved in managing illegal gas connections.

The journalist had formerly voiced feelings of insecurity relating to his past news reports. Local media details that Mia had filed a general diary with Bandar Police Station seeking security arrangements.

Mia is the second journalist to be killed in Bangladesh during 2020. Julhas Uddin, a correspondent of Bijoy TV, was murdered on September 3, 2020 after being stabbed.

After police dispersed the protest at Government House earlier this morning (15 October), over 20 protesters, including several protest leaders, have been arrested.

According to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), at least 27 known protesters have now been arrested after police invaded the protest site outside Government House and a severe state of emergency was declared this morning.

This includes protest leaders Anon Nampa, Prasit Karutarote, Parit Chiwarak, Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul, and Nutchanon Pairoj, along with 22 others.

As of 14.50, 4 people have already been released, including photographer Karnt Thassanaphak, who was taken to the Border Patrol Police Region 1 headquarters, and 3 civilians who were taken to Chanasongkhram Police Station.

Karnt was arrested alongside Parit at around 04.30 while he and Parit were in his car with two other students at the Nang Loeng Intersection. He said that a group of officers surrounded the car and, after presenting the arrest warrant, took Parit and the two students away in a van. The officers then searched Karnt and his car, and escorted him to the Border Patrol Police Region 1 headquarters in his own car.

Anon and Prasit, who were arrested on charges relating to an earlier demonstration in Chiang Mai, were reportedly taken by police aircraft without their lawyer and were expected to be brought to Chiang Mai. TLHR said that onboard were 5 officers from Provincial Police Region 5, 2 pilots, 2 mechanics, and officers from the Crime Suppression Division.

At 15.00, they arrived at the Wing 41 air force base in Chiang Mai, but it is not clear where they will be taken next.

Parit, Panusaya, and Nutchanon were arrested on charges relating to a demonstration at Thammasat University and are still in custody.

Panusaya and Nutchanon were arrested at 08.45 at their accommodation in Khao San Road, after Panusaya read out the People’s Party statement on the crackdown at 07.00.

After being presented with an arrest warrant, Panusaya tore the warrant and she and Nutchanon sat down on the floor in an act of resistance. The officers then put them into wheelchairs and took them to the Border Patrol Police Region 1 headquarters.

18 other civilians are also still being detained at the same headquarters.

There are reports that many protesters were arrested at the protest site at the Misakawan intersection they had left and were on their way to their accommodation near the area.

Contrary to reports from earlier in the day, student activist Panupong Jadnok has not been arrested.

Parit, Anon, Prasit, and Panusaya were charged with sedition, among other charges, while the other 18 people were charged with violating the Emergency Decree.

Under the severe state of emergency, gatherings of five or more people are banned and state officials may arrest people without first informing them of their charges. The order also bans the publication of information that “could create fear,” affect national security, or damage public morale.

The government claimed that the protesters “invited and incited illegal public assemblies in Bangkok” and that they intercepted a royal motorcade and committed actions that affect national security, and therefore “an urgent measure” is necessary to control the situation and “maintain peace and order.”

Tattep Ruangprapaikitseree, a leading member of the student activist group Free Youth and one of the few protest leaders still free, said that the situation is almost no different from a coup and called for people to join the protest at 16.00 at the Ratchaprasong intersection.

Ming Yu Hah, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Campaigns, also issued a statement saying that the “vague, drastic order” will lead to more unfair arrests, detentions, and prosecutions, and that the scale of the morning’s arrests “seems completely unjustified” as yesterday’s protest was “overwhelmingly peaceful.”

The statement also noted that the order was “clearly designed to stamp out dissent and sow fear in anyone who sympathizes with the protesters’ views,” and called for the immediate and unconditional release of the arrested protesters and for those arrested to have access to legal counsel.

“These arrests and sudden emergency measures, announced in the middle of the night, are just the latest escalation in Thailand’s current onslaught on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,” said the statement.

“Instead of ruling by decree and mass arrests, the Thai authorities must reverse course. They must comply with their international obligations to respect the rights of anyone who simply wishes to peacefully speak their mind, on social media or in the streets.”

Charles Santiago, Malaysian MP and Chair of the ASEAN Parliamentarian for Human Rights (APHR), also said “This emergency decree issued by Thai authorities is nothing but an excuse to shut down the peaceful protests that have swept across the country in recent months. The thousands that have taken to the streets in Bangkok, and nationwide, have done so peacefully, and are fully entitled to raise concerns about the current state of democracy in Thailand.

“Instead of introducing measures to end the protests, and arresting its leaders, Thai authorities should listen to the concerns those demonstrating are raising. They might find that their suggestions could benefit the entire country, and not merely a select few, as Thailand’s politics has done for so long.”

Anti-government protesters settled into their new camp on Phitsanulok Road, outside Government House, on Wednesday night after police gave up trying to stop their march.

Thousands of anti-government protesters walked to Government House from the Democracy Monument in the afternoon, to press their demands for the departure of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and a new constitution.

They were briefly halted by police barricades, but when they insisted on moving forward, police finally backed off.

"Down with dictatorship. Long live democracy," the marchers chanted as they moved off from Democracy Monument, where they had assembled face to face with thousands of yellow clad royalist supporters.

The protesters walked from the Democracy Monument on Ratchdamneon Avenue to Government House via Nakhon Sawan Road as police blocked them from marching on Ratchadamnoen Nok Avenue.

Human rights lawyer Anon Nampha and other protest leaders promised there would be no violence during the rally.

Yellow-clad people had gathered along Ratchadamnoen Avenue, waiting for the motorcade of His Majesty the King, who was to go to the Grand Palace in the afternoon for a religious ceremony.

The protesters were blocked by four police buses at the end of Nakhon Sawan Road, in front of the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives office. The demonstrators in the front line started trying to push one of the buses out of the way, so they could continue. Their leaders told them to stop and to show restraint.

They then sat down along Nakhon Sawan Road waiting for the next move from their leaders.

Police later allowed them to move forward, and then set up a new barrier on Phitsanulok Road, closer to Government House.

The protesters insisted on moving forward and police eventually decided to let them go, by moving backwards.

A march leader said they planned to camp out on Phitsanulok Road, outside Government House.

The protest was organised by the "Khana Ratsadorn” (the People's Group), formerly known as the Free People movement.

Because the protesters moved off from Ratchadamneon Avenue, police cleared away traffic, and yellow-shirted people had a chance to glimpse the royal motorcade of HM the King as it went from Ambara Villa in Dusit Palace to the Grand Palace for a religious function.

City Hall workers restored plants at the Democracy Monument that had been moved by the protesters during their gathering there before the march.

The demonstration is the latest in three months of action that have put the greatest pressure in years on the establishment, long dominated by the army and the palace.

Political activist Jatupat "Pai Daodin" Boonpatararaksa who was detained along with 20 others during Tuesday's anti-government protest at Democracy Monument will remain in police custody after the Criminal Court yesterday approved a police request to detain him for 12 more days while investigating his alleged "wrongdoing".

He was yesterday brought from the Border Patrol Police Region 1's headquarters in Pathum Thani, where he was detained the previous night, to the Criminal Court on Ratchadaphisek Road.

He was arrested on Tuesday when he and other protesters set up tents in front of a McDonald's restaurant close to Democracy Monument on Ratchadamnoen Avenue and Satriwithaya School, where His Majesty the King was to pass by in a royal motorcade heading to the Grand Palace, where royal ceremonies were to be held to mark the fourth anniversary of the passing of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej The Great.

Mr Jatupat and his group's refusal to make way for the motorcade prompted police to arrest him and other protest co-leaders.

Mr Jatupat faces 12 charges in connection with Tuesday's protest, while 19 other co-leaders and protesters are facing 10 charges, said Kritsadang Nutcharat, a lawyer from Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.

The two additional charges Mr Jatupat faces are leading or ordering a gathering of more than 10 people causing public unrest, and jointly organising a public gathering without securing permission from authorities as required under the public gathering law, said the lawyer.

Mr Jatupat and the 19 other protesters are facing 10 other charges as well, including resisting orders by security authorities, using loudspeakers without permission, colluding to obstruct traffic, and violating public cleanliness.

Political activist Jatupat “Pai Dao Din” Boonpatararaksa was detained along with 20 others during Tuesday’s anti-government protest at the Democracy Monument. The veteran dissident will continue to be held in custody after the Criminal Court on Wednesday approved a police request to further detain him for 12 days while investigating his alleged misconduct.

Mr Jatupat is facing 12 charges in connection with Tuesday’s protest, while 19 others are facing 10 charges, said Kritsadang Nutcharat, a lawyer from Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.

The activist was brought from the headquarters of the Border Patrol Police Region 1 in Pathum Thani, where he was detained the previous night, to the Criminal Court on Ratchadaphisek Road on Wednesday.

One protester is yet to be charged because police first need to complete a process required under the Youth Act in dealing with an underaged criminal suspect, said the lawyer.

The two additional charges Mr Jatupat is facing are leading or ordering a gathering of more than 10 people that caused public unrest, and jointly organising a public gathering without securing permission from authorities as required under the public gathering law, said the lawyer.

The other ten charges levelled at Mr Jatupat and the other 19 protesters are: colluding to gather in a group of more than 10 people, colluding to cause public unrest, colluding to organise an activity that risks spreading a communicable disease, colluding to obstruct public thoroughfares, colluding to obstruct traffic, violating the law on public cleanliness, colluding to physically assault others, colluding to damage property, resisting orders by security authorities, and using loudspeakers without permission.

The Thai authorities should immediately drop all charges and unconditionally release democracy activists arrested for peacefully protesting in Bangkok on October 13, 2020, Human Rights Watch said today.

At approximately 3:40 p.m., police forcibly dispersed a pro-democracy protest organized by the People’s Group at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument. Police kicked, punched, and threw some protesters to the ground. Some protesters threw paint at police who were arresting them. The police charged those arrested with intent to cause violence, using loudspeakers without permission, and several other offenses.

“The Thai government’s breakup of a peaceful democracy protest at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument just proved the protesters’ point,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The charges against the protesters should be dropped and they should be immediately and unconditionally released.”

Police arrested 21 of the approximately 200 protesters, including the protest leader, Jatuphat “Pai Dao Din” Boonpattararaksa. The protesters were being detained for interrogation at the 1st Region Border Patrol Police Camp in Pathumthani province, north of Bangkok. The police have prevented lawyers from Thai Lawyers for Human Rights from meeting with the arrested activists. Since July 18, youth-led coalitions have organized peaceful protests across Thailand calling for the dissolution of Parliament, a new constitution, and an end to authorities harassing people who exercise their right to freedom of expression. Some of the protests later included demands for reform of the institution of the monarchy to limit the king’s powers.

Prime Minister Gen. Prayut Chan-ocha recently dropped his previous pledge to listen to dissenting voices and adopted a more hostile stance toward pro-democracy protests. Thai Lawyers for Human Rights has reported that at least 65 protesters face illegal assembly charges for holding peaceful protests in Bangkok and other provinces. Some protest leaders have also been charged with sedition, which carries a maximum seven-year prison term, for making demands regarding reform of the monarchy.

International human rights law, reflected in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Thailand ratified in 1996, protects the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. Thai authorities have routinely censored and halted public discussions about human rights, political reforms, and the role of the monarchy in society. Since the military coup in 2014, the authorities have prosecuted hundreds of activists and dissidents on serious criminal charges such as sedition, computer-related crimes, and lese majeste (insulting the monarchy) for the peaceful expression of their views.

The Thai government’s hostility to the exercise of civil and political rights has intensified over the past five months as authorities have imposed draconian state of emergency measures in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The authorities have increasingly used those measures as a pretext to ban anti-government rallies and harass pro-democracy activists, Human Rights Watch said.

“The Democracy Monument arrests raise serious concerns that the government will impose even harsher repression of people’s fundamental freedoms in Thailand,” Adams said. “Thailand’s international friends should call on the government to stop arresting peaceful protesters, listen to their views, and allow them to freely and safely express their visions for the future.”

Students at Maha Sarakham University, in Thailand’s northeastern province of Maha Sarakham, have complained that they were harassed by police, who tried to disrupt their pro-democracy rally at the university’s sports ground.

In a Facebook post today, a student leader said that plain clothes and uniformed police came to the protest site, to search for illegal or subversive publications and to notify the event organizers of the laws related to public gatherings.

He said that the police seized copies of a red book, containing a10-point manifesto for the reform of the Thai Monarchy, and collections of poetry, authored by members of the Free People Movement.

He admitted, however, that he was not surprised by the seizure of those publications, adding that the students had already downloaded the contents of the two publications in PDF format and that anyone who is interested can also download them.

He added that police blocked access to the protest site with metal barriers, but students, their supporters and red-shirt followers were unfazed and streamed into the site to join the rally.

An 83-year-old Jesuit priest has been arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with the probe into the 2018 violence in Maharashtra's Koregaon-Bhima village.

Father Stan Swamy, an activist working with tribals, was picked up from his home in Jharkhand capital Ranchi by a team of NIA officials from Delhi. The officials reportedly spent around 20 minutes at his home before taking him away.

The arrest has sparked outrage. Author and historian Ramachandra Guha said Stan Swamy has spent a "lifetime fighting for the rights of adivasis."

"That is why the Modi regime seeks to suppress and silence them; because for this regime, the profits of mining companies take precedence over the lives and livelihoods of adivasis," Mr Guha tweeted.

Lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan tweeted, "...Now arrested by the NIA under UAPA! The venality of this BJP govt & NIA knows no bounds (sic)."

The probe agency claimed that Stan Swamy is a member of the banned Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) and was "actively involved in its activities".

"He also received funds through an associate for furtherance of the CPI (Maoist) activities," officials of the probe agency said.

The agency said documents and propaganda material of the CPI (Maoist) and literature were seized from Stan Swamy, adding that he was in contact with the other accused in the Koregaon-Bhima case.

"The NIA is after me. I'm being pressurised to go to Bombay... The NIA questioned me for 15 hours... I'm being called to the Mumbai office of the NIA. I refuse to go there. I am 83 and have health issues. I don't want to expose myself to the coronavirus. I have never been to Bhima Koregaon," Stan Swamy had said in a video on October 6.

"If NIA wants to question me, they can do so via video-conferencing," he said.

Several prominent activists, scholars and lawyers have been jailed for over two years while they await trial.

Stan Swamy, who has several health issues, is the oldest person to be in custody in the Koregaon-Bhima case. He has been questioned several times in the past in connection with the case. Originally from Kerala, Stan Swamy has been working for tribals in Jharkhand for over five decades.

The case relates to an event on December 31, 2017 in Pune which was followed by violence and arson in Maharashtra that left one person dead.

Investigators claim that the activists at the Elgar Parishad meet had made inflammatory speeches and provocative statements, which it said had triggered violence the next day.

Last month, the Supreme Court declined to entertain a plea for an interim bail on medical grounds by lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj, who is among the accused in the case. Ms Bharadwaj, 58, has been in jail in Mumbai for over two years and is suffering from diabetes and comorbidities and wanted interim bail so that she could take a medical check-up, her lawyer had said.

The investigation also claimed to have uncovered a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

During the investigation, the NIA said, it was revealed that senior leaders of the CPI (Maoist), a banned organisation under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, were in contact with the organisers of the Elgar Parishad event as well as the accused arrested in the case to spread Maoist and Naxal ideology and encourage unlawful activities.

Vietnam’s security forces have detained prominent human rights defender and democracy campaigner Pham Doan Trang as the communist government has tightened control to clear all political opposition while the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) is preparing for its 13th National Congress scheduled for early 2021.

Ms. Trang was arrested in the late night of October 6, few hours after the 24th Annual Human Rights Dialogue between the US and Vietnam held in Hanoi, when she was in a rent apartment in Ho Chi Minh City, the southern economic hub she has lived in the past three years while being chased by the Vietnamese security forces. According to her landlord, during the arrest, police officers showed the arrest warrant on which she was charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the Criminal Code with a maximum punishment of 20 years in prison if she is convicted.

The state-controlled media has yet covered the arrest. It is expected that the Ministry of Public Security will announce the information about her detention soon as she is among high-risk human rights defenders in the Southeast Asian nation.

Ms. Trang, 42, is a former journalist for the official streamlined newswire VietnamNet. She left the outlet and went to study in the US and involved in activism, becoming one of the leading figures working for human rights and multi-party democracy in Vietnam.

She is a prominent and outspoken journalist, activist, and blogger whose writing covers a wide range of topics including LGBT rights, women’s rights, environmental issues, the territorial conflict between Vietnam and China, police brutality, suppression of activists, and law and human rights. Her book, Chính trị Bình dân (Politics for the Common People), a kind of primer for budding activists, was published in samizdat form in September 2017. She has produced a number of political books such as Phản kháng phi bạo lực (Non-violent Resistance), Politics of Police State, and Cẩm nang nuôi tù (Handbook for Prisoners’ Families). She is one of the authors of Việ Nam & Tranh chấp Biển Đông (Vietnam and the Conflict on the East Sea), published by Tri Thuc Publishing House in Vietnam.

On September 25, she and Vietnamese American Willian Nguyen publicized the 3rd edition of Dong Tam Report, the comprehensive report about the bloody attack of Vietnam’s security forces in Dong Tam commune, Hanoi on January 9 this year and the first-instance hearing to try 29 land petitioners who were charged with “murders” of three police officers and “resisting on-duty state officials” during the raid. It is worth noting that three out of the five co-authors of the first and the second editions of Dong Tam Report, former prisoner of conscience Can Thi Theu and her two sons Trinh Ba Phuong and Trinh Ba Tu were arrested on June 24, also charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda.”

Trang is also a street activist who is committed to peaceful protest. She has joined demonstrations outside police stations and at airports when fellow activists were detained, participated in nationalist protests about China’s violations of Vietnam’s sovereignty in the East Sea (South China Sea), and pro-environmental marches. She has been beaten and detained many times in the past five years.

Trang is the editor for the website Vietnam Right Now, which aims to distribute “objective, accurate, and timely information on the current social and political conditions in Vietnam today.” She is also a co-founder and an editor of the Vietnam Legal Initiative, a US-based NGO working to promote human rights, civil rights, and democracy in Vietnam.

Her writing and activism have addressed a broad human rights agenda, from the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of association, and other rights, including the right to remain silent. As a journalist and blogger, she also focuses on the role of media in social and political life and remains especially concerned with freedom of information on the internet and freedom of the press.

In 2018, Trang was awarded the Homo Homini Award by the Czech-based human rights organization People In Need which considers her “one of the leading figures of the contemporary Vietnamese dissent. She uses plain words to fight the lack of freedom, corruption, and the despotism of the communist regime.”

Last year, the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) presented her with Award For Work to Improve Journalistic Freedom. In March this year, the Liberal Publishing House under her leadership was honored with Prix Voltaire by the International Publishers’ Association.

Responding to her arrest, Phil Robertson, deputy chief of Southeast Asia Office of Human Rights Watch stated “Vietnam’s scorched earth response to political dissent is on display for all to see with the arrest of prominent blogger and author Pham Doan Trang. Despite suffering years of systemic government harassment, including severe physical attacks, she has remained faithful to her principles of peaceful advocacy for human rights and democracy. Her thoughtful approach to reforms, and demands for people’s real participation in their governance, are messages the Vietnam government should listen to and respect, not repress. Human Rights Watch strongly condemns Vietnam’s arrest of Pham Doan Trang. Every day she spends behind bars is a grave injustice that violates Vietnam’s international human rights commitments and brings dishonor to the government. Governments around the world and the UN must prioritize her case, speak out loudly and consistently on her behalf, and demand her immediate and unconditional release.”

The ruling Communist Party of Vietnam’s Central Committee is conducting the 13th Plenum in Hanoi on October 5-10 to prepare for the party 13th National Congress slated in early January. Months ahead of the congress which takes for every five years, Vietnam’s security forces have tightened social security and intensified crackdown on political dissidents, social activists, and human rights defenders.

So far this year, Vietnam has arrested 25 activists and 29 Dong Tam land petitioners, raising the number of prisoners of conscience to 258, according to the latest statistics of Defend the Defenders.

On 7 and 8 September 2020, human rights defenders, Sagar Tatyarao Gorkhe, RameshMurlidhar Gaichor and, woman human rights defender Jyoti Jagtap of the Kabir Kala Manchwere arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), in relation to the violence that broke-outat Bhima Koregoan on 1 January 2018. The three defenders are currently being held in NIAcustody in Mumbai.Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) is a Pune based cultural troupe formed by members of the youth in theBahujan community in the state of Maharashtra. Their performances speak out against the castesystem and the various atrocities committed against the community across the country. SagarTatyarao Gorkhe, Ramesh Murlidhar Gaichor and Jyoti Jagtap form part of a group of musiciansand poets in the cultural organisation. As part of the group, the three defenders performed at the‘Bhima Koregaon Shaurya Din Prerana Abhiyan’ on 31 December 2017,a celebration of the 200thanniversary of the Dalit victory over the Peshwas (upper caste rulers) in the Battle of Koregaon. On 7 September 2020, human rights defenders Sagar Tatyarao Gorkhe and Ramesh MurlidharGaichor were arrested at the NIA office in Mumbai. Almost two months previous, between 13 and15 July 2020, the defenders had been called in for interrogation by the NIA, under the pretence ofbeing witnesses to Maoist activity. On 2 September 2020, both defenders were issued a notice bythe NIA, asking them to appear again on 4 September 2020 for further questioning. During theinterrogation, both Sagar Tatyarao Gorkhe and Ramesh Murlidhar Gaichor were asked to implicatethose currently detained in the Bhima Koregaon case by making a false admission that thedetainees had been in touch with Maoists. Furthermore, the interrogation officials went on to statethat they would release the two defenders if they gave a such a statement under Section 164 of theCode of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which has a provision for witnesses to avoid arrest. Bothdefenders were then asked to go to the NIA office on a daily basis until 7 September 2020, at whichpoint they were arrested. The following day, the defenders were brought before a NIA SpecialJudge who ordered them to be held in NIA custody until 11 September 2020. The custody hasbeen extended until 19 September 2020.On 8 September 2020, woman human rights defender Jyoti Jagtap was arrested by the Anti-Terrorism Squad in Pune, and then later brought to the NIA in Mumbai. The previous day, on 7September 2020, the defender had gone to the NIA office in Mumbai after receiving a notice topresent herself earlier that day. She was briefly questioned but no statement was taken by theauthorities. When she was arrested the next day, she was brought before the NIA Special Judge on9 September 2020, who remanded her to police custody until 11 September 2020. The custody hasbeen extended until 19 September 2020.The three defenders have been targetted since their participation in the ‘Bhima Koregaon ShauryaDin Prerana Abhiyan’ in December 2017. Sagar Tatyarao Gorkhe, Ramesh Murlidhar Gaichor andJyoti Jagtap were all named in the initial First Information Report of the Bhima Koregaon case. On17 April 2018, the homes of all three defenders were raided by the Pune police, who seized all oftheir electronic devices, including mobile phones, CDs and hard disks. The defenders were notpresented any warrants authorising the search and neither was an inventory of items provided bythe police.The arrest of Sagar Tatyarao Gorkhe, Ramesh Murlidhar Gaichor and Jyoti Jagtap, and thecontinued incarceration of twelve others accused in the Bhima Koregaon case are a direct reprisal for their peaceful human rights work. The arrests take place during COVID-19, despite the risk thatimprisoned human rights defenders face in this context. Front Line Defenders has previouslyexpressed concerns over the continued detention and health of the accused in the context of thepandemic, seeing most of them fall in the ‘at-risk’ category, and in particularhas askedthatimmediate medical attention be provided toVaravara Rao.Front Line Defenders condemns the arrest of Sagar Tatyarao Gorkhe, Ramesh Murlidhar Gaichorand Jyoti Jagtap and the continued incarceration of Varavara Rao, Sudha Bhardwaj, VernonGonsalves, Gautam Navlakha, Arun Ferreira, Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Shoma Sen, AnandTeltumbde, Mahesh Raut, Surendra Gadling and, Hanu Babu as it believes they are directly relatedto their peaceful human rights work on behalf of the most marginalised communities in India.

The Observatory has been informed by the Myanmar Alliance for Transparency and Accountability (MATA)[1] about the arbitrary detention of Mr. Gei Om, a member of MATA who works actively on environmental protection and conservation in Chin State. Mr. Gei Om is also a member of the Chin Aung Ta Man (a youth organisation of Chin people), the Chin Civil Society Network, and the Man Eain Working Committee (a community-based organisation).

According to the information received, on July 24, 2020, Mr. Gei Om was taken into custody after a local official in Ohn Village Tract sent a letter of complaint to authorities in Mindat Township, Chin State, on July 13, 2020. The complaint alleged that Mr. Gei Om had spread false news about possible illicit activities throughout Chin villages, was involved in an illegal land dispute settlement in 2016, and had been collecting taxes from villages.

Prior to his arrest, Mr. Gei Om helped local community leaders to monitor the impact of a project of model farms to harvest oil seed plants designed by the Management Committee of Mindat Township. They found out that the local government in charge of the model farms had engaged in illegal logging and that the farms had caused environmental damage to the Natma Taung National Park. On June 1, 2020, they had sent a previous complaint to the Environmental Conservation Department (ECD) of the Ministry of Natural Resource and Environmental Conservation (MONREC), which ordered the Forest Department in Mindat Township to carry out an investigation into the matter. During a meeting with Forest Department officials and two representatives of local communities, Mr. Gei Om, who acted as a negotiator and translator from Chin to Burmese and vice versa, advised the community leaders not to sign documents, which asserted that an investigation was carried out and no wrongdoing had been found. The above-mentioned July 13 complaint letter of the Ohn Village Tract official against Mr. Gei Om was sent to the Mindat Township authorities following this meeting, and led to his arrest.

On August 7, 2020, the Deputy Police Chief charged Mr. Gei Om under Section 5 (1) (F) (G) of the Restriction of Movement and Probation of Habitual Offenders Act of 1961 for his participation in the settlement of a land dispute in 2016. The fabricated charge stemmed from his participation as a community negotiator in the resolution of a land dispute under a customary dispute resolution mechanism after the destruction of a village by a landslide in 2015. At the time, the government authorities had authorized the land dispute to be settled according to local customs but they subsequently claimed that the dispute was not settled legally and that Mr. Gei Om should therefore be charged for his involvement in it, which the authorities claimed it amounted to inciting conflict.

After charges were pressed, Mr. Gei Om was offered a conditional release provided that he would not leave Mindat Township and he would report on a bi-monthly basis to the police for six months to one year, which he refused. If found guilty, Mr. Gei Om will be prohibited from leaving his township and, if he does not comply with this measure of restriction, he could be sentenced to one year in prison. He is currently detained in Mindat Township.

The Observatory expresses its utmost concern over the arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of Mr. Gei Om, which seem to be only aimed at punishing him for his legitimate human rights work.

On television and in the courtroom, the young lawyer could be a force. Babar Qadri stood as a rare, pugilistic voice arguing on behalf of his native Kashmir, the rocky region long torn between India and Pakistan, on India’s combative and increasingly nationalistic talk shows.

Shouted at, he would shout back. More than once, an angry host kicked him off the air.

On Thursday, Mr. Qadri, 40, was shot to death in his home, making him one of the most high-profile casualties of the violence wracking Kashmir.

Family members said an assailant posing as a potential client shot him in the head and chest in the courtyard of his home in the old part of Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir. The identity of the assailant was not clear, the police said, according to local media. They declined to answer questions from The New York Times on Friday.

Kashmiris on Friday mourned Mr. Qadri as a rare public advocate for his home in a troubled time. One year ago, India tightened its hold on the Kashmir region, and local activists say speaking out has become increasingly dangerous.

“The lion was killed in his den,” said Majid Hyderi, a longtime friend of Mr. Qadri, citing a common nickname for him. “With his killing, we have lost a roaring voice for peace.”

Long volatile, the predominantly Muslim Kashmir region has suffered growing violence since the Indian government last year revoked the region’s semiautonomy and increased its security presence there. The move hardened the attitudes of militants who have fought for years for independence from India and sidelined moderate voices calling for ways to improve relations with the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has taken an increasingly hard line toward India’s Muslims.

Mr. Qadri’s death is part of a wave of political assassinations that have shaken the region in the last few months. It was the first killing of a prominent civil society member since the killing of Shujaat Bukahri, the editor of a local daily newspaper, two years ago. Editors’ Picks Nicole Kidman Leans Into the Pain The One Name the W.N.B.A. Won’t Say Buried in Salt, These Potatoes Are a Joy to Eat Continue reading the main story

Mr. Qadri had said in recent weeks that he had received death threats. On Twitter this week, he said the police should investigate people who had accused him of being a man of “agencies,” implying he worked secretly for Indian intelligence.

“The sense of tragedy is all the more because he warned of the threat,” Omar Abdullah, a former chief minister of the region, wrote on Twitter. “Sadly his warning was his last tweet.”

Mr. Qadri’s round, bespectacled face was famous in the region and throughout India for his vociferous criticism of New Delhi’s increasingly stronger hand in Kashmir. In person, he could be shy and retiring and would rarely interrupt others, unlike when he was on television. He also had sharp words for Pakistan, which India accuses of supporting pro-independence Kashmiri militants and other armed groups.

Both countries, Mr. Qadri said in an interview with The Times about a month before his death, “play with the dead bodies of Kashmiris.”

Mr. Qadri grew up in Srinagar speaking Kashmiri, Hindi and English, which later made him an effective spokesman in polyglot India. He studied law in the city and became a human rights lawyer. He was a common sight in Srinagar, driving around the city in a gray hatchback with his two young daughters.

He rose to prominence in 2012, when Indian police forces accused a number of children of attempting to murder officers and burning police vehicles. A photo of him wearing a gray suit, perhaps a size too large, while trying to comfort a terrified boy being led away by a police officer went viral on the Kashmiri internet. When the boy was set free, his family members said Mr. Qadri had argued in court on his behalf “like a lion,” giving the young attorney the nickname.

As security forces put more Kashmiris in prison, Mr. Qadri was widely sought after, and he became known for his ability to win the freedom of children in particular. He also became a frequent guest on Indian television, where he sharply criticized the Indian forces for their harsh oversight of Kashmir.

Mr. Qadri kept up his television appearances even as Indian media became increasingly nationalistic after the election of Mr. Modi in 2014. As Indian forces stepped up their enforcement efforts in Kashmir in the name of fighting terrorism, he faced an increasingly difficult reception. Other panelists often called him “Mr. Traitor.”

Late Thursday, as the dust settled in the city, Mr. Qadri’s body, covered by a red blanket, was put in an ambulance and taken to his ancestral home in north Kashmir, where family and friends lowered his body into the ground and bade him farewell.

Friends and relatives beat their chests. During the procession, one of Mr. Qadri's daughters — Zahera, 4 — asked her mother where her father was, according to Surat Shakeel, a family friend. Mr. Qadri’s wife told her that he had gone to perform the hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca. Kashmiri parents often tell their children that the dead have gone to hajj.

Burhan Ahmad Bhat, a university student who participated in the procession, said he wondered whether Mr. Qadri’s killers would be found and whether they would continue to be labeled “unidentified,” like the killers of so many other Kashmiris.

“All we know is that they are killed by unidentified gunmen,” Mr. Bhat said. “But we never come to know why.”

Four local online news journalists were attacked on September 28 by a group of men who they say were timber traders seeking revenge after the reporters had singled them out to police for committing forestry crimes.

The group of reporters from PMN news, Chakrapop news and Eysan Post filed a complaint at the Memot district police station in Tbong Khmum province against several suspects who they say threw a log through the window of their car and beat them with sticks and axes, injuring two.

Memot District Police Chief Hong Kim Hoeun confirmed receipt of the journalists’ complaint.

“Yes, we have received it and [we] are working on that case,” he said before declining to comment further.

One victim, Ren Samnang, a reporter at PMN news, said he was asleep in his car along with Muok Saren from Chakrapop news, and Ran Khorn and Teng Norin from Eysan Post news, when the attack occurred.

“I was traveling from Snoul district to Phnom Penh and upon arriving in Memot district, we pulled over to take some rest and fell asleep,” said Samnang, 29.

“We were sleeping [in the car] for about an hour when at about 12:30am, we heard a sound hitting the car,” Samnang said.

Upon realizing that someone had hurled a log through the front driver’s side window, he started the engine and began to drive away.

The group of about five suspects then returned to their truck to chase after the journalists, eventually crashing into their car and running it off the side of the road.

“I jumped out of the car and started to run away,” he said, adding that the log thrown through the window had injured his left rib, and that the timber traders had also smashed off one of the vehicle’s mirrors and dented the exterior.

Samang said he had recognized the attackers and realized the assault was in retaliation to the journalists’ investigation of forest crimes in the area. On September 26, the group had reported an incident of illegal logging to military police in Memot district, which resulted in the officials stopping a truck transporting timber through the area.

He said the journalists were present to report on the case when military police stopped the vehicle, but that the four or five men on board had gotten away.

“[Before running], the driver took a picture and said ‘Either your car will be damaged or we will cause you harm,’” Samnang recalled.

“I think that they wanted to kill us,” he added.

He called on police to take legal action and arrest the suspects so that they would not repeat their crime in the future.

Saren said his leg was slightly injured in the attack, and echoed Samnang’s assertion that the attackers were part of the group of timber traders that they had encountered two days prior.

“They [suspects] came to beat us up without even asking us anything and damaged our car,” he said.

“I think that it is a threat to all journalists not to report [forestry] crimes in the future,” Saren said, emphasizing that the attack would not deter his future work.

Sar Sina, director of the provincial information department said September 29 that his department has already forwarded the case to the Information Ministry.

“Police are working on that case, we have not yet investigated it,” he said, adding that those journalists had filed a complaint with the district police.

“It is a violent act that should not happen to journalists,” Sina said.

Nop Vy, executive director at Cambodian Journalists Alliance (CamboJA), said he was disappointed in the use of violence against the journalists, noting that reporters play an important role in monitoring and preventing illegal acts, including forestry crimes.

“We know that forestry crimes are continuing to happen, and some cases involve local authorities and people who are powerful and rich,” he said.

“It is dangerous and risky for journalists, so I think that local authorities have to take effective legal measures to arrest the culprits,” Vy said, adding that if authorities decline to take legal action, it will encourage the suspects and they may even attack other journalists in the future.

Vy said that the persecution of journalists “is a serious threat to their life and personal safety.”

In a separate case in Phnom Penh’s Pur Senchey district, Kouy Piseth, 24, a reporter for CBN TV Online, died in a traffic accident in the early hour of September 29.

Theng Kosal, Choamchao III commune chief, clarified that the death was caused by a road collision, and was not a murder, as public people had originally suspected.

The victim had driven his motorbike very fast up a hill and had been thrown off, hitting his head on a rock on the ground, Kosal said.

“It is not a murder case, but it was a traffic accident he caused himself,” the commune chief said, explaining that police were initially unsure because the body was found 40 meters away from the victim’s motorbike.

CBN TV Online General Director Chhai Sochet said he had not seen Piseth since the reporter had left the office at about 11:30pm, and that he was saddened to hear of his death.

Four Koh Kong villagers were detained for about 12 hours after camping outside the provincial hall in a group of about 60 land protesters since Monday, they said.

The group say they are in a 12-year-long dispute with the Union Development Group, or UDG, which has been developing the $3.8-billion Dara Sakor tourism resort in the province. The villagers said they were calling on the provincial administration to act on the case.

Chhay Kimthuch, one of the protesters camping outside the hall, said four villagers had been detained in the dark at about 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday after dozens of officers arrived to disperse the encampment.

“The authorities arrived quietly and grabbed [people] in the tents,” she said.

The four villagers, including a village representative, Preab Roatha, were held at Khemara Phoumin city police headquarters until their release around 3 p.m., Kimthuch said.

Saing Puy, from Koh Sdach commune, added that the tents outside the provincial hall were removed and authorities said they would not be allowed to stay there.

“The Koh Kong provincial authority should not have done this to the people,” she said.

Deputy provincial governor Sok Sothy told VOD that there were no arrests; authorities simply took an administrative measure to maintain public order.

The four villagers were “questioned to note down what their real intentions were in coming,” Sothy said.

UDG’s 45,000-hectare overall economic land concession, granted in 2008 and 2011, pushed families to abandon and dismantle more than 1,500 homes on 10,000 hectares of land, according to a 2012 report from the Community Legal Education Center.

Last month, the U.S. sanctioned the Chinese-owned company, alleging it “used Cambodian military forces to intimidate local villagers and to clear out land necessary for UDG to build the Dara Sakor project.” It also suggested that the resort could be converted to host military assets.

Cambodian officials and UDG have denied the claims.

Hour In, provincial coordinator for rights group Licadho, said people who had lost land were being further victimized by the suppression of protests.

“People became victims of losing land, and when they protested, they became victims even more because of the authorities’ actions,” In said.

Provincial governor Mithona Phouthorng said provincial officials and the Land Management Ministry were studying the dispute to clearly identify the people involved and make other clarifications in order to move toward a solution.

The complete freezing of Amnesty International India’s bank accounts by the Government of India which it came to know on 10 September 2020, brings all the work being done by the organization to a grinding halt. The organisation has been compelled to let go of staff in India and pause all its ongoing campaign and research work. This is latest in the incessant witch-hunt of human rights organizations by the Government of India over unfounded and motivated allegations, Amnesty International India said today.

“The continuing crackdown on Amnesty International India over the last two years and the complete freezing of bank accounts is not accidental. The constant harassment by government agencies including the Enforcement Directorate is a result of our unequivocal calls for transparency in the government, more recently for accountability of the Delhi police and the Government of India regarding the grave human rights violations in Delhi riots and Jammu & Kashmir. For a movement that has done nothing but raise its voices against injustice, this latest attack is akin to freezing dissent,” said Avinash Kumar, Executive Director of Amnesty International India.

Amnesty International India stands in full compliance with all applicable Indian and international laws. For human rights work in India, it operates through a distinct model of raising funds domestically. More than four million Indians have supported Amnesty International India’s work in the last eight years and around 100,000 Indians have made financial contributions. These contributions evidently cannot have any relation with the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010. The fact that the Government is now portraying this lawful fundraising model as money-laundering is evidence that the overbroad legal framework is maliciously activated when human rights activists and groups challenge the government’s grave inactions and excesses.

The attacks on Amnesty International India and other outspoken human rights organizations, activists and human rights defenders is only an extension of the various repressive policies and sustained assault by the government on those who speak truth to power. “Treating human rights organisations like criminal enterprises and dissenting individuals as criminals without any credible evidence is a deliberate attempt by the Enforcement Directorate and Government of India to stoke a climate of fear and dismantle the critical voices in India. It reeks of fear and repression, ignores the human cost to this crackdown particularly during a pandemic and violates people’s basic rights to freedom of speech and expression, assembly, and association guaranteed by the Indian Constitution and international human rights law. Instead, as a global power and a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, India must fearlessly welcome calls for accountability and justice,” said Avinash Kumar.

As part of the Nobel Prize winning movement, Amnesty International India holds itself to the highest evidentiary standards. Our work in India, as elsewhere, is to uphold universal human rights and build a global movement of people who take injustice personally. These are the same values that are enshrined in the Constitution of India and flow from a long and rich Indian tradition of pluralism, tolerance and peaceful dissent.

———

BACKGROUND: CHRONOLOGY OF ATTACKS AND HARASSMENT OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL INDIA:

On 25 October 2018, Amnesty International India endured a 10-hour-long raid as a group of officers from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), a financial investigation agency under the Ministry of Finance, entered its premises and locked the gates behind them. Most of the information and documents that were demanded during the search were already available in the public domain or filed with the relevant government authorities. The residence of a Director was also raided.

Immediately after the raid, the bank accounts were also frozen by the ED. As a result, Amnesty International India was forced to let go of a number of its staff, adversely affecting its work in India including with the marginalised communities. Despite the ongoing investigations and before the framing of charges, the Government of India started a smear campaign against Amnesty International India in the country through selective leaking of documents gathered by the ED, to government-aligned media outlets. This resulted in a malicious media trial against the organization.

In early 2019, the Department of Income Tax started sending investigative letters to more than 30 small regular donors. Apparently, the department did not find any irregularities but the process adversely affected the fundraising campaigns of Amnesty International India.

In June 2019, Amnesty International India was denied permission to hold the press conference launch in Srinagar to release its third ‘Lawless Law’ report on the misuse and abuse of Public Safety Act in Jammu and Kashmir. It was forced to digitally release it.

On 22 October 2019, Amnesty International testified at the US Congressional hearing on the situation of human rights in South Asia with specific focus on Jammu and Kashmir since the unilateral abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution of India.

On 15 November 2019, two weeks after the testimony and amid rumours of impending arrests of the organizations top officials, the offices of Amnesty International India and the residence of one of its directors were raided again by the CBI. The raids were conducted on the basis of a First Information Report filed by the Ministry of Home Affairs over unsubstantiated allegations of suspected violations of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act. It suggested investigations be launched under other laws like Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

On 13 April 2020, Amnesty International India called on the Uttar Pradesh Government to stop its intimidation of journalists through use of repressive laws during a pandemic. On 15 April 2020, the Cyber Crime Police Station, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh notified Twitter to furnish information about Amnesty International India’s Twitter account @AIIndia which the organization uses to monitor and analyse developments in international human rights law and Indian constitutional and criminal law related to human rights issues.

On 5 August 2020, marking the first anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution of India, Amnesty International India released an update on the situation of human rights in Jammu and Kashmir.

On 28 August 2020, marking the six-month anniversary of the riots that took place in North-East Delhi in February 2020, Amnesty International India released an investigative brief on the complicity of Delhi police in the riots which claimed the lives of at least 53 people, mostly from the minority Muslim community.

The release of the two publications has provided fresh impetus to the establishment to harass and intimidate Amnesty International India through its investigative agencies.

On 10 September 2020 Amnesty International India came to know that all its bank accounts were completely frozen by the Enforcement Directorate bringing most of the work of the human rights organization to a grinding halt.

Lahan Municipality authority has been learnt to have decided to file a case against reporter Manilal Bishwakarma on August 24. Lahan lies in Province 2 of Nepal.

Talking to Freedom Forum, reporter Bishwakarma shared that he received a copy of municipality's executive committee meeting minutes three days back (September 29). The minute states the municipality had decided to file charge sheet under Electronic Transaction Act and public offense against him and a local Mahesh Chaudhary. The municipality had accused Chaudhary of distributing relief materials to the public without prior information to the municipality.

The decision came after his reporting on municipality's distribution of 'rotten raw foods as relief materials to the locals facing crisis' following lockdown to contain coronavirus pandemic. In the news published on April 14, he had also included photographs of the locals who had reached the ward office to return the distributed decayed food stuffs.

Reporter Bishwakarma further said that he was also issued several threats through social media pages and the municipality’s authorities following the publication of the news. He however said, “I am ready to face whatever the consequences but I will not stop writing on such serious of govenrment irresponsibility and irregularities.”

Freedom Forum is alarmed over the decision of the local authority against journalist. While most of the people lost their earning in this pandemic, government’s relief is the major support to live. But such irresponsible behaviour of the local government towards its citizens and to the journalist is condemnable.

Hence, FF strongly urges the concerned authority to correct the decision respecting journalists’ right to free reporting and cooperate with those for good governance at this time of crisis instead.

Saptari based reporter for the Kantipur national daily Abadhesh Kumar Jha was misbehaved by a police officer while reporting on October 5. Saptari district lies in Province-2 of Nepal.

FF’s representative at Province-2 Rajan Singh reported that Jha was making notes about a discussion among women representatives, advocates and chief of police at the district police office. Women leaders had reached the office to make aware police chief Rajendra Prasad Dhamala and draw attention of security authority on increasing violence against women in the district in the recent days.

Police chief Dhamala warned that journalist Jha could not report in the district police office without police permission and ordered him (Jha) to leave the office immediately.

Freedom Forum has serious concern over the statement of police chief for it severely violates press freedom and citizens' right to information. The journalists have every right to report on the issues of public concern. Hence, FF strongly urges the concerned authority to respect rights of journalists and press freedom.

It is appalling that violence against women as rape and murder are rising rapidly across the country of late.

Activist Meng Xiaodong (孟晓东) stood trial at Sui County Court in Shangqiu City on charges of “picking quarrels ” and “obstruction of credit card management” on October 1. The prosecution also accused him of “insulting others” on Twitter for his comments about former state leader Mao Zedong. He pled not guilty and his lawyers defended his innocence. No members of the public were allowed into the courthouse. The hearing ended without a verdict being pronounced. Since 2010, Meng has been active in defending local farmers’ land rights. On September 6, 2019, police from Sui County took Meng away from his home, first detaining him on suspicion of “picking quarrels” and later adding the allegations of “obstruction of credit card management” and “insulting others” on Twitter.

Zhongwei City police in Ningxia arrested several volunteers at a wildlife conservation group on numerous charges on September 29. Police announced Li Genshan (李根山), Zhang Baoqi (张保其), Niu Haobao (牛海波) and 8 unnamed individuals of the Zhongwei Mongolian Gazelle Patrol Team had been arrested for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, “extortion and bribery” & “illegal hunting.” The group used to chase poachers in the desert at night and shortly before being detained, had reportedly accused local forest police of sheltering poachers. Police seized Li, Zhang and Niu on September 9, 2020 and criminally detained them the next day for “picking quarrels,” “extortion and blackmail,” and “robbery.” On September 11, 2020, the police announced on its Weibo account that they arrested 6 more individuals but did not disclose any details. According to other volunteers of their group, three of the six detainees were from the group. By the end of September, 12 individuals remain in custody and two had been released on bail. Zhang’s son Zhang Hai applied for bail but the police rejected the application. In 2019, Li Genshan exposed that a paper manufacturer had been illegally discharging sewage in the Tengger Desert in Inner Mongolia for years, resulting in an investigation from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

Baguio-based online media outfit Northern Dispatch decries harassment as another cyber libel case is filed against its editor-in-chief, Kimberlie Ngabit-Quitasol.

Two courts initially dismissed the libel charge filed against Quitasol early this year but it was elevated to cyber libel and refiled in another court. La Trinidad, Benguet Provincial Prosecutor Andres Gondayao first filed the libel case against Quitasol at the Regional Trial Court Branch 59 in Baguio City, but it was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.

Gondayao then refiled the case at the La Trinidad Municipal Trial Court, and was also dismissed for the same reason.

The prosecutor then filed another case against Quitasol at the RTC 59 in Baguio City on Sept. 28, and amended the charge to cyber libel, which has stiffer penalties than regular libel.

The charges were all based on the complaint of Police Regional Office Cordillera Regional Director Brigadier General R’Win Pagkalinawan, who also filed a similar case against NorDis volunteer, Khim Abalos, last Sept. 22.

The cyber libel case stemmed from Quitasol’s article published in the Northern Dispatch website last April 7, about human rights alliance Karapatan’s reaction to Pagkalinawan’s order “to shoot communist organizers who unnecessarily organize people during the COVID-19 lockdown.”

The police general claimed that both Quitasol and Abalos deliberately removed a part of his statement, “kapag nanlaban.” (if they fought back) The omission, according to the complaint, was done in order to portray the Pagkalinawan in a negative light.

Quitasol said they never received a subpoena summoning them to the courts despite being charged three times.

“The filing of cases against two Nordis staff, me included, is an escalation of attacks against our media group,” said Quitasol.

Quitasol also claimed that attacks and harassment against their team steadily worsened under the current government but she vowed to “remain steadfast and continue to defend the people’s right to truth and information.”

NorDis has been consistent in its reporting of indigenous peoples’ issues and human rights violations in Cordillera and Ilocos regions.

“We have been holding the line too long enough, it is time to push back,” Quitasol said.

An ongoing investigation into a hard-hitting journalist with Hong Kong's government broadcaster RTHK will have a "chilling effect" on the city's news organizations, the Hong Kong Journalists' Association (HKJA) warned on Monday.

The RTHK Programme Staff Union said on Sunday it had received news that the station management will reopen a probe into the work performance of TV presenter Nabela Qoser, whose questions of chief executive Carrie Lam in the wake of a July 31 attack by armed thugs on train passengers in Yuen Long prompted Lam and other top officials to walk out of a news conference.

The union described the broadcaster’s decisions to reopen the investigation into complaints against Qoser and extend her probationary period by 120 days as "political persecution," RTHK reported.

Qoser, a Hong Kong-born journalist of Pakistani descent, asked Lam where she was on the night of the attack, which went on for nearly 40 minutes before police showed up at the scene, demanding: "How could you sleep last night?"

"The Hong Kong Journalists Association is concerned about [the reopening of the investigation ], and worries that journalists who raise pointed questions will be subjected to suppression in their workplaces," the HKJA said in a statement on its Facebook page.

"[This] will eventually create a chilling effect," it said.

RTHK staff, as civil servants, are required to submit to at least performance appraisals over a three-year probationary period, but the process doesn't include public complaints.

Qoser's probationary period had been due to end, but has been extended pending the renewed investigation, the staff union said on its Facebook page.

"The sudden re-opening of the investigation and the extension of the probationary period are not only unfair to Qoser; they also undermine the entire civil service appraisal system," the HKJA said.

"If journalists are subjected to criticism, suppression, or political censorship just for doing their jobs ... they will no longer be able to speak up against injustice," the group said.

RTHK union members staged a protest outside the station's headquarters on Monday as a new advisory board convened in the wake of complaints of anti-government bias against the organization met.

'A form of political suppression'

Union president Chiu Sin-yan said the reinvestigation of Qoser seemed to be politically motivated.

"We tend to believe that this is a form of political suppression," Chiu said. "This investigation was previously closed ... so if it can be reopened indefinitely, we think the intention behind this is self-evident."

Chiu said the reasons given by RTHK director of broadcasting Leung Ka-wing during a meeting on were insufficient.

HKJA chairman Chris Yeung said the move will likely have a further chilling effect on the city's journalists.

"It is worrying because if news organizations cave in to political pressure from the authorities and put pressure on journalists, even if they dress it up as non-renewal of a contract or ... sacking for other reasons, this ... will have a chilling effect on the whole industry," Yeung said.

A warning to others

Bruce Lui, senior journalism lecturer at Hong Kong Baptist University said the singling out of Qoser is intended as a warning to all journalists.

"Is this to be the fate of journalists or media organizations seen as less obedient by the government?" Lui said. "I'm sure many will be wondering if they should be less outspoken ... and not do anything wrong."

As China imposed a draconian national security law on Hong Kong on June 30, Zhang Xiaoming, deputy director of Beijing's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, and Lam both hit out at some media organizations for "smearing" the authorities in their criticisms of government and police.

The law stipulates that the media should be "subject to better supervision, management, publicity, and education," Lui said.

"So it is not surprising that the authorities have targeted the media with various actions," he said.

Democratic Party lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting wrote to RTHK on Monday saying that there was no new information that would justify a reinvestigation of Qoser's performance.

He told its reporters: "I strongly urge the senior management of RTHK to uphold the freedom of expression, freedom of the press and editorial autonomy, and to try to defend their professional reporters and journalists and let them to perform their duties professionally and independently."

But Lam Tai-fai, chairman of the RTHK advisory board, declined to comment on the move when asked by journalists on Monday.

"I am not in a good position to comment (on) the employment situation," Lam said. "Whether it’s fair or not fair, it’s not my job and also I cannot make a comment with my limited knowledge in this area."

No support for police, government

The reinvestigation into Qoser's work comes after broadcasting regulator the Communications Authority issued a warning to RTHK following public complaints that its TV show Pentaprism hadn't upheld a wide enough range of views, namely those in support of police and government.

Qoser, a Hong Kong Baptist University graduate, has previously worked at TVB and Ming Pao, and has been subjected to online racist abuse, according to Hong Kong's Equal Opportunities Commission.

RTHK is a fully funded department of the Hong Kong government, but has been criticized by pro-China politicians and officials for alleged anti-government bias.

In May 2020, it axed a top satirical show that poked fun at police denials of violence against pro-democracy protesters, and apologized, after the Communications Authority issued a warning to the station for "denigrating and insulting" the police in a February episode of the show.

The decision to reinvestigate Qoser's performance comes after the city's police force said it would no longer recognize credentials issued by the HKJA, as was previously the case, saying it would now decide which media organizations were legitimate.

A court in Shanghai recently handed down a secret sentence of three years' imprisonment to detained rights activist Chen Jianfang, a Chinese rights website reported.

"We learned on Oct. 2, 2020 that Shanghai human rights defender Chen Jianfang has been sentenced to three years' imprisonment for incitement to subvert state power," the Weiquanwang rights website reported, citing lawyer Liu Shihui.

"Chen Jianfang is currently being held in the Shanghai Detention Center. The authorities have so far not allowed her to meet with a defense attorney," the report said.

The sentence will run until Feb. 18, 2022, it said.

Chen, 49, a Shanghai-based housing activist was recently named as a recipient of the 4th Cao Shunli Memorial Award for Human Rights Defenders by Civil Rights & Livelihood Watch, Human Rights Campaign in China, and the Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) network.

The news of her secret sentencing came after her indictment by the state prosecutor on Aug. 30, and the transfer of her case to the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court.

Chen's appointed defense lawyer Wu Li told RFA on Monday that she had been repeatedly denied permission to meet with her client.

"After she instructed us, she applied to the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate Court, but it didn't approve her request, so we were never able to read the case files," Wu said. "Later, we requested information from the court about where she was being held, but they didn't tell us."

"I later learned that she is in the Shanghai No. 1 Detention Center, so I made an appointment, but they canceled it," Wu said. "The reason they gave was ridiculous: that only one meeting was permitted for each stage in the case."

Wu said unconfirmed reports suggest that Chen's family may have been forced to revoke her lawyer's instruction under pressure from the authorities.

Cao Shunli as model

Gu Guoping, a friend of Chen's, said her detention came after she penned an essay paying tribute rights activist Cao Shunli on the fifth anniversary of her death in police custody on March 14, 2014.

Gu said the charges could also be linked to the way in which the news of the Cao Shunli award was made public.

"She inadvertently disclosed the contact details of the chairman of the U.N. Human Rights Council to petitioners, and they also inadvertently leaked the news [of her award]," Gu said. "Then the authorities stopped her from going to Switzerland [to receive the award]."

Chen has been held incommunicado for more than six months on subversion charges, putting her at high risk of torture and other ill-treatment, rights groups say.

Chen was detained on March 20 alongside her husband, and the couple 'disappeared' for several months. Chen was formally arrested on suspicion of "subversion of state power" on May 22, while her husband was released on bail on April 3.

Her incommunicado detention was the subject of an appeal from four United Nations human rights experts to the Chinese government in August.

Chen, 49, who hails from a rural community, began defending land and housing rights after her family lost land to government-backed developers.

Her work has highlighted the widespread mass evictions behind Shanghai's skyscrapers and high-speed railways, key elements in China's development showcase that mask widespread abuses of residents' rights.

She has referred to Cao Shunli as "my spiritual teacher, from whom I learned some of the highest ideals."

"My own rights defense work is indivisible from what she taught me," Chen wrote to RFA at the time of the award.

Chen's sentencing comes at a time of worsening rights abuses under President Xi Jinping, who now looks set to rule indefinitely.

Cao was detained on Sept. 14, 2013, as she was boarding a flight to Geneva, where she was to attend a session of the U.N. Human Rights Council, where she hoped to participate in drafting China’s human rights action plans and reports for its U.N. human rights reviews.

A court in Hong Kong on Wednesday extended a travel ban on pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong in connection with an "illegal" protest last year, and for defying a government ban on mask-wearing in public.

The Eastern Magistrate's Court granted bail applications from Wong and co-defendant Koo Sze-yiu, who face charges of "taking part in an illegal assembly" on Oct. 5, 2019, before adjourning until Dec. 18.

But while it lifted a travel ban linked to bail for Koo, it extended the ban on Wong leaving Hong Kong.

Protesters and supporters gathered outside the courtroom, chanting: "Go Joshua Wong!" as dozens of uniformed police officers stood by, while a pro-China group showed up to shout insults and call for Wong's bail application to be denied.

Koo, who has stage IV cancer requiring chemotherapy and multiple surgeries, said public rallies don't need to seek the approval of the authorities before going ahead.

Wong, who faces a number of protest-related charges in separate cases, said he had no intention of giving up his activism.He said the extended travel ban was likely aimed at ensuring he can't promote the cause of the Hong Kong protesters overseas, as fellow activist Nathan Law has done.

"The prosecution once more applied for me to be prevented from leaving Hong Kong," he said. "The government wants to create a chilling effect under the guise of a criminal trial."

"By bringing case after case against me, they have succeeded in preventing me from leaving Hong Kong, to make it much harder for me to talk about Hong Kong's resistance movement to the rest of the world," he said.

"But what I have to put up with is nothing compared to the charges [faced by many others] of rioting, assault and conspiracy, not to mention the 12 Hongkongers [detained] in Shenzhen," Wong said.

He called on Hongkongers to remember the 12 detainees in Hong Kong, whose speedboat was seized by the China Coast Guard as they tried to flee to the democratic island of Taiwan.

March application turned down

Hong Kong police last week turned down an application to hold a protest march on China's Oct. 1 National Day public holiday, to call for the release of the 12 detainees.

"I believe that Hongkongers will use different methods, today, tomorrow, and in the future, to express their concern for them," Wong said.

Wong, 23, was arrested on Sept. 24 as he reported to Central Police Station in connection with another ongoing protest-related case.

He has already served several months' of prison time in connection with last year's anti-extradition and pro-democracy protests and the 2014 Occupy Central movement.

He continues to face six charges in three separate cases, including "inciting others to participate in an illegal assembly," "organizing an illegal assembly," and violating an emergency law banning masks in public.

The trial for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's defamation suit against writer and financial adviser Leong Sze Hian opened on Tuesday (Oct 6).

The trial is set to run for the rest of the week before Justice Aedit Abdullah, with Mr Lee represented by Senior Counsel Davinder Singh and a team of lawyers, and opposition politician Lim Tean representing Mr Leong.

Mr Lee, 68, sued Mr Leong in late 2018 over a public Facebook post the latter shared on his page on Nov 7, 2018, containing a link to an article by Malaysian website The Coverage.

The article alleged that Mr Lee had helped former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak launder money in relation to scandal-hit Malaysian state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

Mr Lee's lawyers said the post contained "false and baseless" allegations that were "highly defamatory", including a purportedly libellous allegation that Mr Lee was "complicit in criminal activity relating to 1MDB".

Mr Leong, 66, said in December 2018 that he had complied with a notice from the Info-communications Media Development Authority on Nov 10 to take down the offending post, adding that he had "merely shared" the article with no comments.

After the suit was filed, Mr Leong's lawyer filed a counterclaim alleging that Mr Lee's libel suit was an abuse of court, but this was thrown out by the High Court and later by the Court of Appeal.

The apex court ordered Mr Leong to pay the Prime Minister costs of S$20,000 in September last year, after reiterating that the argument of abuse of court was not part of the law of Singapore and that a plaintiff has the right to choose who to sue for defamation.

Mr Lee arrived by car shortly past 9.30am on Tuesday, in a grey suit and a pale green tie. He waved to the people in the public gallery when he entered the courtroom. There is a limit of 20 people because of COVID-19 safe distancing measures.

Mr Lim and Mr Leong gave remarks to the media outside the Supreme Court before entering at about 9.45am, with Mr Leong saying he was armed only with the "sword of truth".

Members of the public queued for tickets to the public gallery from as early as 5.30am, and tickets were issued by 7am.

The trial comes after Mr Leong's lawyer was arrested on Friday (2 Oct)for alleged offences of criminal breach of trust and stalking.

He was released later that day.

Expressing grave concern about the physical assault of a human rights defender and the subsequent apathy by Satara police, the Human Rights Defenders Alert and the National Dalit Movement for Justice (NDMJ) have written an urgent letter of appeal on September 29.

The letter addressed to the National Human Rights Commission of India (NHRC), the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) and various UN officials demanded action against the rural police for their apathetic treatment of the physical assault case of Advocate Sujit Nikalje and his family by local goons for his work as a human rights defender.

As many as six people allegedly assaulted the Dalit rights activist and lawyer, who was returning to Phaltan from Dhumalwadi on September 6, along with his wife and his brother’s family. The family was returning from a visit to a nearby waterfall when the group of miscreants verbally and physically harassed them. A crowd that had rushed to the family’s help after hearing their shouts caught one attacker Kunal Gaikwad and handed him over to the police.

The organisations alleged that the Inspector of Phaltan rural police, Nitin T Sawant, not only failed to apprehend the attackers but also threatened Nikalje for a baseless offence of entering a restricted waterfall area.

“The fact is that the waterfall comes under the jurisdiction of Dhamalwadi Panchayat, which had decreed that locals were allowed to visit it. The attackers were in fact in contravention to the Panchayat’s orders barring outsiders from visiting the waterfall. Furthermore, the police let off the Mr. Gaikwad on September 6, 2020, without registering a case despite having been caught red handed,” wrote the organisations.

They demanded that Satara’s Superintendent of Police file a report against the Inspector, the rural police and other personnel for wilful negligence and inaction to register the Advocate’s case.

The organisation also asked that the charge of attempt to murder be added to Nikalje’s existing FIR along with other charges of voluntary hurt, assault on a woman to outrage her modesty, unlawful assembly and armed rioting. Lastly, they demanded compensation for the Dalit rights activist who was assaulted on account of his human rights work.

“We urge that this case is treated as a case of reprisal on the human rights defender,” said the letter.

Five of the six accused were arrested on September 10 following intervention by Superintendent of Police Ms. Tejaswi Satpute. However, Mr. Deepak Gaikwad continues to be absconding.

The organisations that believed the attack was of a pre-meditated nature said, “He [Gaikwad] has been identified by the HRD as being the leader of the pack and took the lead in instigating the attack against the HRD. The fact that he continues to be free puts the life of the HRD [Nikalje] and his family in imminent threat.”

The malicious attacks on Adivasis are on the rise even as illegal felling of trees and other intimidation tactics by the forest department continue in isolated incidents across the country. The latest incident took place in Madhya Pradsh where some forest officials illegally detained, assaulted and tortured two activists: Kailash Jamre and Pyarsingh Waskale working for Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan in Burhanpur district Madhya Pradesh.

On August 29, two Adivasis- Jabarsing Keriya and Somla Chamarsingh were picked up while going back to their village after buying groceries. No information was provided to villagers until late that night. The next morning, the forest staff called Kailash Jamre and asked some of them to come to court to apply for bail for the two tribals. Pyarsingh Waskale accompanied Kailash as they attended the hearing of Jabarsingh and Somla. The forest department offered no evidence, nor did they present a chargesheet of the crimes committed by the two, however their bail application was rejected. As Kailash and Pyarsingh were exiting the court, on August 30, they were forcibly picked up by Khaknar Range Officer Abhay Singh Tomar and a few others.

Kailash and Pyarsingh were then taken to Khaknar Range office, where they were illegally locked up all night, and were allegedly brutally beaten up by around 20-25 staff and officers. According to Kailash, 2 or 3 people would hold their limbs while the others beat them with lathis. Most were drunk, and kept abusing them for ‘talking too much about the law and being the leaders of the sangathan’.

When the news of the illegal detention reached the village, many Adivasis gathered at Khaknar police station late at night and demanded registration of FIR against the forest officials. But, like in so many other cases of recent times, the police refused to file FIR and instead threatened the Adivasis with arrest. They were also allegedly misled by the police that Kailash and Pyaarsing had been taken to Burhanpur and that they had not been mistreated and would be produced in Court the next day.

They were brought to the District Court, Burhanpur, the next day and as Kailash and Pyarsingh were so brutally beaten up in custody, Kailash could barely stand and collapsed in court, whereafter he was hospitalised for 6 days and he is still unable to walk.

Both Kailash Jamre and Pyarsing Vaskale, of Rehmanpur village in Khaknar block are active members of Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan and constantly educate Adivasis about the provisions of the Forest Rights Act and their other legal rights. They have also, along with others, been active in opposing illegal clearing of forests which is happening with the active connivance of forest officials. They were mercilessly beaten up by forest department officials who said, “Tum hi jyaada kanoon karte ho.. dekhte hai teri sangathan kitni mazboot hai” (You are the ones who talk too much about the law.. now let’s see how strong your organisation is).

The region has a history of violence against Barela and Bhilala Adivasis who are claimants under the FRA. The forest staff, for decades has been demanding money from Adivasis for sowing, harvesting along with threats of false charges and cases slapped on them. Kailash and Pyarsingh are activists who for the past two years have been generating awareness about the Forest Rights and other legal rights and entitlements for Adivasis – putting an end to the decades of extortion by forest staff and officials from Adivasis for simply growing food.

Kailash himself and Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan, as an organization have written to the District Collector and Superintendent of police giving a detailed account of the incident and demanding action. They have demanded that strict action be taken against the forest officials and they be booked under sections of the IPC as well as the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act as also the false cases against the adivasis and the activists be withdrawn.

Organisations that work at grassroots level to awaken and strengthen tribal communities seems to have become the new target of forest officials possibly because these activists always come to the rescue and raise their voice along with fellow adivasis whenever any injustice is meted out by forest officials.

A fortnight ago, tribal rights champion Soni Sori found herself in quite a conundrum. On September 24, she had tested positive for COVID-19. A day later, she was supposed to present herself before the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for an inquiry in the killing of Bheema Mandavi, a Bharatiya Janata Party MLA, and four policemen in an alleged Naxal attack from the past year.

Sori had informed the officials about her health condition; they, however, insisted she still appears. Four days later, the local administration went ahead and booked her under sections of the Indian Penal Code for violating the quarantine rules.

Sori, who had remained active through the lockdown, visiting villages and helping people in need in the tribal district of Dantewada in Chhattisgarh, developed symptoms in the month of September. As fever persisted, she decided to get herself tested. “The result stated I was infected by coronavirus. The local health officials came and put me in quarantine immediately at my residence in Geedam (a tehsil in Dantewada),” she says.

But when Sori called the NIA officials informing them about her health status, she says the officers refuse to believe her. “I was asked to make arrangements and be present before the NIA’s Dantewada office, over 80 km away,” she says. Sori’s health condition scared her neighbours, and local travel agents were unwilling to lend their vehicle for the travel, her nephew Lingram Kodopi says. The two were then forced to travel on a bike amid heavy rains.

“I was burning with a high fever. I was afraid they would detain me in the case. They questioned me for over seven hours despite my condition,” she adds.

Sori was informed about her health condition by Devendra Pratap Singh, a health officer in Geedam. Despite the positive report, the Dantewada police, along with the NIA insisted a second test was conducted. The second test too came out positive. But Sori alleged that despite the rapid test kit clearly indicating that she was positive, the police and Pratap declared that she had tested negative and is fit to face the inquiry.

But then, Singh later went ahead filing a case against Soni under Sections 188, 269, and 270 of the Indian Penal Code for disobeying an order duly promulgated by a public servant, for indulging in a negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life and malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life respectively. All three sections are bailable.

When The Wire approached Singh for his comment, he confirmed that an FIR has been registered. “I merely did my job. I am in-charge of the region and since Sori had travelled even when she was put under strict quarantine, I was duty-bound to report her to the police,” he said. When asked why he had claimed that she was negative on the day of Sori’s appearance before the NIA, Singh denied having made such a statement. He also confirmed that she tested positive both times. The former chief medical officer, Dr S.K.P. Shandilya, who was in-charge of the Dantewada region until three days ago, also confirmed that Sori had tested positive. The Wire has accessed her medical reports and also the FIR registered by Singh.

Sori, who has faced police atrocities including sexual torture and prolonged incarceration in the past, shared that she finds the state police and the NIA’s act inhumane. “If questioning me was so important, the NIA could have waited for a few weeks. Why did they insist I travel even when they are fully aware that this illness spreads super fast? It wasn’t just about my health alone, I could have endangered so many more lives,” she says.

Under Section 160 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the investigating agency ought to have travelled to her residence. The section states, “…provided that no male person under the age of fifteen years or woman shall be required to attend at any place other than the place in which such male person or woman resides.” The section also makes provision for travel allowance. But Sori says she was asked to make her own arrangement.

Bheema Mandavi murder case

On April 9, 2019, Bheema Mandavi, then the sitting BJP MLA from Dantewada, and four personnel of the Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF) were killed after Maoists had allegedly blown up their vehicle with an IED. This incident took place near Shyamgiri village under the Kuakonda police station area of Dantewada. The case was handed over to the NIA for investigation and on October 2, the agency filed a bulky chargesheet and named 33 persons as accused.

The NIA was in a hurry to question Sori before filing the chargesheet.

In the chargesheet, the NIA has claimed that the attackers after the ambush had also looted the arms and ammunition of the security personnel. All accused have been booked under several sections of the IPC, the Arms Act, the Explosive Substances Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

While the Jagdalpur team of the NIA refused to take Sori’s health condition seriously, its Bombay team, investigating the 2018 Elgar Parishad’s case, cancelled its scheduled questioning last week. Sori, who was one of the many guest speakers at the Elgar Parishad event organised in Shaniwarwada of Pune to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the battle of Bhima Koregaon, was to be questioned by the NIA. A team of officers had reportedly traveled to Dantewada but decided to return on finding out about her health condition. The team spoke to Sori on the phone instead and has rescheduled a visit to Dantewada to the coming week.

Mr. Dhirendra Pratap isa Dalit rights activistandthe national president of an organization called "Purvanchal Sena” formed in 2006 and working against the oppression of Dalits.

On September 08, 2020,in Kusmaul village in Gorakhpur, a candidate for Pradhan’s election Mr. Sonu Jatav was abusedwith‘casteist slurs’by the sitting Gram PradhanMr. Vivek Shahi.Mr. Dhirendraand his organisationopposedthis incident and the police filedan FIR under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (PoA) against the Pradhanon September 09, 2020.However,Mr. Vivek was not arrested and he is alleged to have gone to the Dalit colony and abused Dalits in front of the police.The police instead of upholding law and order and arresting Mr. Vivek, remainedsilent and abetted the atrocities. A video was also made of this incident.Mr. Dhirendra and his organisation were constantly demanding the arrest of Mr. Vivek.

On September 18, 2020, around 02:00 AM, 20-25 men in plain clothes, armed with guns,jumped the wall and entered Mr. Dhirendra’shome in village Betiahata,Gorakhpur.When Mr. Dhirendra’s fatherenquiredwho they were and how did theyenter hishome, they said that theywere from the crime branch andhad come for an investigationand started searching their home room by room. Mr. Dhirendra was sleeping in hisroomduring this time. When he woke up, the intruders told him too that theyare from the crime branch and said that “You are Dhirendra ‘Purvanchal Sena’ president, now you will know how to become a leader.”Mr. Dhirendra asked them for anarrest warrant or notice, hearing which theystarted abusing himand forcibly triedto take him. Mr.Dhirendra's younger brother was recording this entire incident onhis mobile. After seeing him record the incident, the policemen snatched the mobile from the younger brother and took him too forcibly. They also abused and harassed women.When the two brothers were brought out of the house, the family also came out and noticed that some policemen inuniformwere standing outside the house.There were 6-7 cars,including a police jeep. The policemen started slappingboth HRDs, while trying to force both brothers into theircar. When their father tried to rescue his son, they tried to beat him with a lathi. Then theyforcibly abducted both thebrothersandtook them.In themorningtheirfather went to nearest police station–Cantt Police Station in Gorakhpur –and asked about his sons. But the policemen replied that they did not knowabout them. He then went to successive police stations to ask about his sons but did not get any information. Then he went to the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP)GorakhpurMr.Bhupendra Kumar Singh’s office but Mr. Singh was not present,so he left a letter regarding the incident. Around 02:00 PM,hemet the District Magistrate(DM) of Gorakhpur Mr. VijendraPandiyan and told him the incident. The DM assured him that he will find his sons. Around 03:00 PM,Mr.Dhirendra and his brotherwere brought to the district hospitalof Gorakhpur for medicalexamination andafter medical theywere sent to the Gorakhpur District Jail. At 3:03 pm an FIR was registered by Mr. Amit Kumar Chaturvedi, Sub-Inspector atCantt Police Station, Gorakhpurunder sections307(Attempt to murder),332(Voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 353(Assault or criminal force to public servant from discharge of his duty)against Mr. Dhirendra, Mr. Yogendra Pratap and another personMr. Vicky David.TheFIRstated that on the night of September17-18, 2020, Mr. Chaturvedi, (Sub-Inspector) along with Constables Deepak Kumar and Ram Chander Yadav were on duty at Betiahata Chauraha, Betiahata, Gorakhpur.From the Crime Branch, Mr. Sadiq(SI), Mr. Chandrabhan (SI), Mr. Rashid (Head-Constable), Mr. Dharmendra (Constable), Mr. Yogesh (Head-Constable), Mr. Pradeep (Constable), Mr. Rakesh (Constable), Mr. Indresh (Constable), Mr. Qutbuddin (Constable) and Mr. Monish (Constable) had gone to the Betiahata Chauraha. They were told by aninformer that a wanted criminalMr. Vikky David is standing near Hanuman temple with two people.After getting the information, 15 policemenreached Hanuman Templewhere theysaw three people standing who said their names wasMr. Vicky David, Mr. Dhirendra Pratap and Mr. Yogendra Pratap. When all of them were body searched,it seemed as if Mr. David had a gun and in the scuffle severalpolicemen fell downand all three of themran away firing.Mr. Chaturvedi statedin FIR that,“the police searched for them but all three could not be found. That's why I'm filing a FIR”.Mr. Dhirendrawas constantly persuadingthe policeto uphold the constitution and act against Dalit atrocities. This is the main reason why the police targeted Mr. Dhirendra.The entire narrative showcasesextreme neglect and misuse of power by the Gorakhpur police. From not arresting Mr. Vivek and then abetting crime against Dalits to the post-midnight raid, abduction and illegal arrest in a fabricated case demonstrate a state of complete lawlessness in Gorakhpur. Acts by the police depict extremely serious and blatant violations of arrest procedures of the Cr.P.C, the DK Basuguidelinesand NHRC’s ownguidelineson arrestprocedures.

Adv. Varsha Deshpande is a well-known activist in Maharashtra and is based out of Satara district. She has worked for many years against social malpractices such as female foeticide and child marriages. She is also the founder president of the organizationcalled ‘Dalit Mahila Vikas Mandal’ which works with Dalit women for self-employment and has also established Free Legal Aid Center in 1996 with the help of Maharashtra Legal Aid Society.

Ms. Tamanna Mujawar and Ms. Aishwarya Jadhav, both residents of Satara,had money dealings in the past due to which a dispute broke out between them. Ms. Jadhavhad borrowed Rs. 15000 from Ms. Mujawar of which she had returned Rs. 12,500.Since they were unable to resolve the issue,Ms. Jadhav approached the Free Legal Aid Centre on August 24, 2020. However unable to resolve the issueeither, both wereaskedby the WHRD to visit the Satara City police station.

On August 25, 2020, the Satara City Police registered an FIR against Adv. Varsha Deshpandebased on a complaint filed by Ms. Mujawaralleging that the WHRD had physically assaulted her and demanded a ransom.The complaint stated that whenadispute croppedup between her and Ms. Jadhav at the Free Legal Aid Centre, Adv. Deshpande threatened her that she would initiatea legal case against her and also slapped her. Ms. Mujawar also accused Adv. Deshpande of demanding aransom of Rs. 50,000, failing which shewould file a complaint against her.Based on her complaint,the Satara city policestationcharged the WHRD under sections 384 (extortion) and 323 (causing voluntary hurt) of the Indian Penal Code(IPC).In her complaint, Ms. Mujawarsaid that the Ms. Jadhav had asked her to come to Adv. Deshpande’s office at 2.30 p.m. However, Adv. Deshpandehas clearedthat she hadnever called Ms. Mujawar to the office and the latter had come on her own volition. On August 26, 2020, Ms. Jadhav filed a police complaint stating that she had approached Adv. Deshpande as she wanted help on how to get out of her current predicament. However,in her office,Ms. Mujawar started a verbal fight with Adv. Deshpande. She also alleged that Ms. Mujawar was forcing her into a prostitution and blackmailing racket. Ms. Mujawar allegedly demanded that Ms. Jadhav pay her the amount due with interest when she refused to do Ms. Mujawar’s bidding. Based on Ms. Jadhav’s complaint the Satara city policestationhave filed an FIR under sections 452 (House Trespass), 342 (Wrongful Confinement), 323 (Voluntary Hurt), 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (Criminal Intimidation), and section 5 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 which pertains toprocuring, inducing or taking an individual for the sake of prostitutionagainst Ms. Mujawar. No one has yet been arrested.We believe that the Ms. Deshpande, a longstandingwoman Human Rights Defenderof repute,has been implicated in a false case by the Satara police since she hasbeen vocal about police inaction on several occasions in the pastregarding sexual harassment of women. Recently,the WHRD had also complained to the state DGP about SDPO Mr. Sameer Sheikh and his handling of cases.Since there seems to have been a recent history with Mr. Sheikh as well as the facts of the above case, we are inclined to believe that the case against Adv. Deshpande is fabricated and false and has been filed with a malicious intent.

With top Congress leaders like Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra hitting the streets to highlight the Uttar Pradesh government’s mishandling of the Hathras gangrape-and-murder case, one would assume that since at least in the states where the party is in power, individuals’ right to protest would be honoured.

But in Maharashtra, particularly in Mumbai, that is not the case. The city police began tracking 24-year-old anti-caste activist Suvarna Salve at 1 am on October 2 and at the crack of dawn, they were at her doorstep armed with a legal notice to prevent her from participating in any protests in the city.

Suvarna, a student and cultural activist, says the police first called her on her cell phone at midnight and inquired about her whereabouts. “They asked me for my address and said they want to serve me a notice at 1 am. I informed them that I was away and they should not bother my family. But at around 7:15 am, the police were at my doorstep with a notice. My family received the notice,” she says.

The notice, typed in Marathi, stated that Salve was prohibited from participating in a “peaceful protest” organised by a Mumbai-based collective ‘Hum Bharat ke Log’ (We the People of India). Issued by the Marine Drive police station and signed by senior police inspector Mrityunjay Hiremath, the notice states:

“In the peaceful protest, banners and placards with messages like “Sab Nirbhay Bano, Loktantra Zinda Rakho, Savidhan ka SanmaaN karo” (Become fearless, keep democracy alive, respect the constitution) are to be displayed near a Gandhi statue at Madam Cama road.”

In the notice, issued under section 149 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), the police have quoted a whole bunch of sections, including those under the Maharashtra Police Act, the Epidemic Diseases Act and other sections of unlawful assembly claiming that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the public gathering is prohibited. Section 149 of the CrPC implies that every police officer may intervene for the purpose of preventing, and shall, to the best of his ability, prevent, the commission of any cognizable offence

Salve says while the sections applied are understandable, the motive behind serving a notice only to her is not. “It was supposed to be a public gathering. Several people had decided to participate. But they identify just a few in the crowd and serve a notice. How to even understand this behaviour,” she asks.

Besides Salve, at least two more persons who were to participate in the protest have been served with similar notices. Salve did not attend the protest and Firoze Mithiborewala, one of the protestors, confirmed that the police served similar notices to two teenagers who had assembled at the protest site.

Interestingly, when The Wire contacted the Marine Drive senior police inspector Hiremath to inquire about the grounds for issuing this notice, he said that he was not aware of it. “There is no protest organised within my jurisdiction. We have not issued any notice,” he claimed over the phone. The letter has his name and signature on it.

This is not the first time that the Mumbai police have served a notice on Salve. On August 29, The Wire, in a detailed piece had reported the Mumbai police’s attempt to classify Salve as a “habitual offender” and initiate the administrative procedure of “externment” against her. In that notice, the Mumbai police also demanded a whopping surety of Rs 50 lakh from her. The notice was served to her for participating in an impromptu protest organised in the city in January in the wake of the attack on students and faculty members inside the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus.

Salve says she has been singled out and harassed by the current state dispensation. She says the police’s act of serving notices on her for every public appearance is crafted with a clear intention to profile and criminalise her.

Since her college days, Salve has been a vocal anti-caste voice, participating in protests and students’ agitations across India. In 2016, after the death of Rohith Vemula, a PhD scholar at the University of Hyderabad, which many described as an “institutional murder”, Salve joined the Joint Action Committee (JAC) formed to fight for justice for Vemula and other Bahujan students who face discrimination in campuses.

Salve told The Wire, “The protests that I have participated in have always been peaceful and organised against the atrocities and violations of human rights in the country. This protest [on October 2] was organised to register our protest against the inhuman treatment meted out to a Dalit family, whose 19-year-old daughter was allegedly gang-raped and killed. And the irony is, the Mumbai police identifies one Dalit woman and prohibits her from protesting.”

Jailed Kazakh civil rights activist Sanavar Zakirova has been placed in solitary confinement for allegedly attacking three cellmates, which her daughter called part of a politically motivated campaign against her.

Malika Zakirova told RFE/RL on September 18 that her mother, who is being held in a detention center in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, was defending herself from an attack by the three inmates, which lead to her being placed in solitary confinement.

Officials at the detention center told RFE/RL that Zakirova was transferred to solitary confinement for five days "for attacking three inmates."

Zakirova's lawyer, Zhanar Balghabaeva, told RFE/RL on September 18 that her client had complained since mid-August that the detention center's administration was using other inmates to pressure her and officially asked for a transfer to another penitentiary as her life was in danger.

Zakirova, who is well known for her political and civil-rights activities, was sentenced to one year in prison in mid-July after the Medeu district court in Almaty found her guilty of assaulting the daughter of a woman who had hurled vulgarities at a rally in March.

Zakirova has insisted that all of the accusations against her are groundless and politically motivated.

She was an initiator of and leading participant in rallies in Almaty and Nur-Sultan, the capital, last year by residents of Kazakhstan's different regions, demanding action on what they called "wrong court decisions" in various cases.

In March 2019, Almaty city authorities denied Zakirova permission to hold a congress to establish a new political party, Our Right.

In November 2019, Zakirova and two other activists were found guilty by a court in Almaty of distributing false information about the ruling Nur-Otan party over the Internet.

They were ordered to pay the equivalent of $15,000 to the party. Zakirova and her supporters said then that the case was politically motivated.

Days later Zakirova and three other female activists mocked Nur-Otan, staging a public action -- asking worshipers outside a mosque in Nur-Sultan for money to help pay a fine to the ruling party.

Police detained the women then and fined them the equivalent of $32 each for causing a public nuisance.

Last week, Kazakhstan’s human rights organizations recognized Zakirova a political prisoner.

The Appeal Court has sentenced a villager in Lampang to 1 year in prison and a fine of 400,000 baht for encroaching on national park land, despite evidence that the plot in question has been occupied since 1954.

Wannueng Yawichaipong, 53, formerly named Saengduean Tinyot, a villager from Mae Kwak Village, Ban On Subdistrict, Ngao District, Lampang, was sentenced last week (8 September) to 1 year in prison and a fine of 400,00 baht plus 7.5% in interest after the Appeal Court ruled that she is guilty of encroaching on national forest land and unlawful possession of a firearm. The Court also ordered her to remove her belongings from the land.

Wannueng was twice ordered by Tham Pha Thai National Park to cut down her rubber trees, in 2013 and 2015. After it was proven that the plot in question was not part of the land that was to be declared a national park area, Wannueng demanded compensation, but was then sued by Mae Pong National Forest Area officials in December 2018, despite evidence that the plot in question has been occupied since 1954.

In December 2019, the Lampang Provincial Court dismissed the case and acquitted Wannueng of all charges after Cheewapap Cheewatham, Director of the Forest Protection and Fire Control Bureau, Forestry Department, testified that she had not violated national park boundaries as aerial photographs taken in 1954 showed that the land in question had been previously cleared and occupied.

Wisarut Srichan, an activist from the community rights group P-Move, also testified that Mae Kwak village land has been included in the Community Title Deed project, a campaign launched by the NCPO government to allocate land to villagers.

However, the public prosecutors filed an appeal, and the Appeal Court ruled to overturn the Lampang Provincial Court on the ground that the mitigating circumstances did not apply to Wannueng’s case, and overturned her acquittal in the illegal possession of firearm charge, claiming that the place where the gun was found was unlocked and easily accessible, posing a danger to others.

Wannueng’s case is among those in which villagers affected by the NCPO’s forest reclamation policy face legal prosecution.

The cyber wing of the Jammu and Kashmir Police summoned and abused Auqib Javeed, a Kashmir based journalist, over a news report about police intimidation of social media users. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its India affiliate Indian Journalists Union (IJU) condemn the police’s highhandedness and urge the Indian authorities to stop such the violence and intimidation of journalists.

Javeed was assaulted and harassed by Jammu and Kashmir Cyber Police on September 19 for his news report entitled ‘Police Question Kashmir Twitter Users For 'Anti-Govt' Posts’ published on the Article 14 online site. His article highlights cases of the intimidation by the Jammu and Kashmir police to civil society members, journalists and students for their tweets critical of government actions on article 370 and the internet shutdown in Jammu and Kashmir. The article claims that dozens of Twitter users in Kashmir have been forced to maintain their silence after being interrogated by the police about their posts on Article 370 and the Internet shutdown. The police have accused Javeed’sreport of being ‘fake and baseless’.

According to Javeed, after being summoned he was abused and assaulted at the cyber-police’s police on September 19 along with two members of the Kashmir Press Club. He said two masked police slapped him and Tahir Bhatti, the Superintendent of Police who is in charge of the police’s cyber cell, abused him. The journalist was released after five hours. The police have refuted his allegations of abuse.

Journalists in the J&K region are frequently harassed, threatened and summoned particularly over any criticism of the Indian government revocation of article 370 which lead to the imposed internetshutdown in August 5, 2019.

On July 31,Qazi Shibli, the editor of news portal The Kashmiriyat , was detained whileFahad Shah, editor of news portal Kashmir Walla, was summoned on May 20. The police in Srinagar also filed separate investigations or First Information Reports (FIR) against Kashmiri photojournalist Masrat Zahra and journalist Gowhar Geelani on April 18 and April 21 respectively. And, cyber police in Srinagar questioned journalist Peerzada Ashiq on April 19 in relation to the journalist’s news articles.

Prime Minister Hun Sen urged the country to commit to protecting peace as hundreds of land disputants protested in Phnom Penh on Monday, saying that while they remain marginalized, threatened and “in tears,” the people don’t have peace.

Land protesters from the provinces of Koh Kong, Preah Sihanouk, Svay Rieng and Tbong Khmum blocked traffic in front of the Land Management Ministry for at least 20 minutes, with reporters estimating that as many as 1,100 people participated in the demonstration.

About 50 police officers and district security guards prevented the protesters from entering the ministry’s compound, and pushed them to the opposite side of the road. The protesters were later blocked from marching to Hun Sen’s house.

Sam Chamnan, from Tbong Khmum, said people in his village had lost community land to Harmony Win Investment over the past decade. Men Davy, from Svay Rieng, said she represented 152 families locked in a dispute with a Chinese company since 2014. Kan Chhorn, from Koh Kong, said his Sre Ambel district villagers had no land left to farm after 10 years fighting with a sugar plantation.

The villagers chose the International Day of Peace to protest so the government could finally fulfill its promise to bring peace to the country by resolving their disputes, Chamnan said.

But rather than peace, land protesters had been experiencing only arrests and threats, he said. “We have no rights,” Chamnan added.

Davy said it was time for the government to act rather than simply repeat the word “peace.”

“Today, I think Samdech will find a solution for people, in order to make our country have peace as it was promised,” she said, using an honorific for Hun Sen. “We think there’s no peace. There is only peace in their mouths because people are still in tears in all the provinces.” ​

Chhorn said he didn’t want to have to protest. “I am poor. … If I were rich, I wouldn’t come,” he said. “I’m a farmer but I don’t have the land to grow crops.”

City Hall spokesperson Met Measpheakdey said authorities had prevented people from marching to maintain public order and avoid traffic jams.

“They shouldn’t need to gather and disrupt public order” if the aim was simply to submit petitions, he said.

Meanwhile, to mark the International Day of Peace, Hun Sen recalled the country’s past struggles and said only peace could be the foundation for development.

“If we lose peace, we will lose everything. … Commit strongly to protecting the peace that we’ve just achieved,” he said in a letter issued on Saturday. “Endure, be strong and remain intact forever. Do not allow any reactionary force to destroy it at any cost.”

Acknowledging the economic challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, Hun Sen said his two priorities were maintaining stability in politics and the microfinance sector.

The country’s microfinance debt hit $7.3 billion in June to more than 2 million borrowers, according to the Cambodia Microfinance Association, with an average microloan size of $3,804 that researchers have said is the highest in the world.

“The great achievements that Cambodia has achieved have never been applauded or praised by some superpowers and Western countries, which have a specific agenda to use Cambodia as a stepping stone to serve their political ambitions,” Hun Sen continued in his letter.

In a statement issued on Monday while protests were ongoing, the Land Management Ministry said about 800 disputants from Koh Kong had no legal basis for their complaints, rejecting their petition for intervention in disputes with sugar plantations Heng Huy, Koh Kong Plantation and Koh Kong Sugar Industry as well as Chinese-owned tourism resort Union Development Group.

UDG — a massive, $3.8-billion development that spans 45,000 hectares and 20 percent of Cambodia’s coastline — was sanctioned by the U.S. last week over alleged human rights abuses and forced evictions, following accusations that it could be turned into a Chinese military base.

Chinese authorities should immediately quash the 18-year sentence against a property tycoon and outspoken critic of President Xi Jinping, Human Rights Watch said today.

On September 22, 2020, a Beijing court announced on its website that Ren Zhiqiang had been convicted of taking bribes and embezzling public funds. He was also fined 4.2 million yuan (US$620,000).

“The corruption charges against Ren Zhiqiang are a thin cover for President Xi Jinping’s intolerance of dissent,” said Yaqiu Wang, China researcher. “The 18-year sentence handed down to a Communist Party member and member of the economic elite shows the grim environment for speech in China.”

Ren, 69, is the former chairman of Huayuan, a state-owned real estate group. He was born into a political family – his father was a deputy commerce minister. He rose to public prominence after garnering 38 million followers on the Chinese social media site Weibo. Known as “The Cannon,” Ren often used the platform to express views critical of authorities, and to urge the Communist Party to improve its governance of the country.

In March, the Beijing police detained Ren after he criticized the Chinese government’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak. In an online essay, Ren wrote that “People’s lives are harmed by both the virus and the serious ills of the system.” While he did not mention Xi by name, he suggested Xi was a “clown stripped naked who insisted on continuing being emperor.”

In July, the Beijing Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Chinese Communist Party’s abusive internal investigation agency, announced that Ren had been expelled from the Party and would be prosecuted on corruption charges. The commission did not make public where Ren was being held, and it is unclear what, if any, access he had to family members or lawyers of his choice.

The case highlights serious due process concerns and the absence of credible, publicly available information to substantiate the charges against Ren. The trial, held on September 9 at the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate Court, was secret. Neither the court nor Chinese state media released any information regarding the proceedings. Ren’s friends said that he was represented by a government-appointed lawyer, but it is unclear whether he had requested his own lawyer. The court said Ren had confessed to all charges and would not appeal.

The authorities’ treatment of Ren in detention is unknown, but as Human Rights Watch documented in a 2016 report, abuses against detainees in corruption cases are common. They include prolonged sleep deprivation, being forced into stress positions for extended periods, deprivation of water and food, and severe beatings. Detainees are also subject to solitary and incommunicado detention in unofficial detention facilities. After “confessing” to corruption, suspects are typically brought into the criminal justice system, convicted, and sentenced to often lengthy prison terms.

In February 2016, Ren was banished from social media in China after he criticized Xi for calling on the Chinese media to “serve the Party” in a speech. The authorities publicly censured Ren and put him on a one-year probation from the Party.

“Ren’s sham trial may put him in prison for the rest of his life,” Wang said. “A failure to immediately release Ren would show the world that China’s legal system is a tool for settling political scores, not delivering justice.”

The Myanmar authorities should cease responding to criticism of the government and military with arrests and prosecutions of students protesting human rights abuses, Human Rights Watch said today. They should immediately drop charges against the students and unconditionally release those in custody.

At least 20 students around the country have been charged or are facing arrest under various laws after joining protests or sticker campaigns critical of the government or military, including criticizing the mobile internet shutdown in Rakhine and Chin States, according to the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU).

“The Myanmar government deserves a failing grade for intimidating and harassing students peacefully expressing their views,” said Linda Lakhdhir, Asia legal adviser. “Neither criticizing the government nor peacefully protesting should be a crime, and the authorities should stop treating them as such.”

On September 10, 2020, members of the student federation conducted a “sticker” campaign in solidarity with Rakhine students who had been arrested the previous day for protesting internet restrictions. The ABFSU members distributed fliers and stickers demanding that 3G and 4G data services be turned back on across eight townships in Rakhine and Chin States. The slogans included: “No bloody government. No murder army” and “Oppose murder and fascism and stand together with the Rakhine people.”

On September 12, the Special Branch unit of the police conducted a nighttime raid on the home of Paing Min Khant, a student in North Okkala, Yangon. “When the police knocked on our door, they told us that they were coming into our home to take temperature checks as part of neighborhood health checks for Covid-19,” Paing Min Khant told Human Rights Watch. “But then they came in and told us they had filed complaints against us under section 19 of the Peaceful Procession and Peaceful Assembly Law in Mayangone and Kyauktada townships [in Yangon].”

Police took him and another student, Wai Yan Phyo Moe, to the Mayangone township police station, where they were told they would face charges under the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law for failing to notify police when distributing anti-war fliers and stickers in downtown Yangon.

Myanmar’s Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law requires organizers to give notice to the authorities 48 hours before holding a protest or assembly. The law carries a maximum penalty of three months in jail and a fine. Treating the distribution of stickers and flyers as an “assembly” requiring notice is a new and overly broad reading of that law, Human Rights Watch said.

The authorities also threatened Paing Yin Khant and Wai Yan Phyo Moe with possible additional charges under section 505(b) of the Penal Code, which carries a penalty of up to two years in prison and a fine.

The pair said police later took them to the Kyauktada township police station and questioned them about the whereabouts of other students before finally releasing the two around midnight. The students said the police did not immediately file charges against them but said they were conducting the investigations as part of an “open” case.

Three Arakanese student leaders detained over an anti-government protest earlier this month will be charged under the Peaceful Assembly Law in a legal change from earlier indications that they would be prosecuted using the Natural Disaster Management Law.

The three students were arrested during a demonstration on September 9 outside the Arakan State government offices, where they were demanding the restoration of internet access and an end to human rights abuses in Arakan State.

They were remanded until September 24 under Section 25 of the Natural Disaster Management Law, but the lawsuit was changed at the Sittwe Township Court on September 22 as it was determined that the legislation was not appropriate for the circumstances.

Section 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law covers a requirement to inform authorities in advance of a planned demonstration.

“The section under which to prosecute them was changed according to the recommendation of the legal office,” said U Kyaw Nyunt Maung, a lawyer for the students — Ko Toe Toe Aung, chair of the Sittwe University Students’ Union, and information officers Ko Kyaw Naing Htay and Ko Oo Than Naing of the Arakan Students’ Union and Sittwe University for Computer Studies respectively.

Section 19 allows for bail, and the trio were released with their trial’s first hearing scheduled for October 6.

Members of student unions in Yangon, Mandalay and Meiktila have also faced charges for protesting against human rights abuses in Arakan State. Cases have been opened against some 20 students under various legal statutes including at least one charge of incitement.

“We thank our alliance students who support us. We want to urge them to keep trying together in the future,” said Ko Kyaw Naing Htay, information officer for the Arakan Students’ Union.

The Mandalay student demonstration on September 10 protested alleged military misconduct in Arakan State. Protesters also demanded the full restoration of 4G mobile internet access in parts of Arakan and Chin states that have been deprived for more than a year.

Ko Myo Chit Zaw, from the Yadanarbon University Student Union, is being detained at the No. 6 police station in Mandalay. Charges have been brought against him under Myanmar’s Natural Disaster Management Law in addition to the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law, Ko Htoo Khant Thaw said.

A total of 13 students who joined the protest have had cases opened against them under Section 19 of the Peaceful Assembly Law, according to the federation.

“It is intended so that we don’t have any rights to note matters related to the military in Myanmar. So, all 13 students who participated in the protest yesterday are facing lawsuits. We don’t think it is appropriate. In fact, we noted the actual situations on the ground,” said Ko Htoo Khant Thaw.

On September 9, three students from the Arakan Student Union who staged a protest in front of the Arakan State government offices were arrested. Cases were opened against them under Section 25 of the Natural Disaster Management Law at the Sittwe Township Court on September 10.

The Constitutional Court on Wednesday (16 September) accepted a complaint against three leaders of the 10 August demonstration at Thammasat University, accusing them of attempting to overthrow the government.

The complaint was filed by lawyer Nattaporn Toprayoon, who accused three speakers at the 10 August demonstration, namely human rights lawyer Anon Nampa and student activists Panupong Jadnok and Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul, of attempting to overthrow the “democratic regime with the monarch at the head of state” under Section 49 in the 2017 Constitution.

Nattaporn previously filed his complaint with the Attorney General under Clause 2 of Section 49 on 18 August, before filing the complaint with the Constitutional Court directly.

The Constitutional Court accepted the complaint and will deliver a copy of the complaint to the three accused, so that they can submit a statement within 15 days. The Court also ordered the Attorney General to deliver the evidence filed by Nattaporn to the Court within 15 days.

Nattaporn, a staunch royalist, is a former advisor to the Chief Ombudsman and has previously acted as a lawyer for the PAD, the Thai Patriots Network and other right-wing groups. In June 2019, he filed the same complaint against the now-dissolved Future Forward Party (FFP), claiming that the party was linked to the Illuminati, a fictitious secret organization believed by conspiracy theorists to be seeking world domination. The Constitutional Court ruled to acquit the party in January 2020, citing insufficient evidence.

Police officers have searched the house where activist Jatupat “Pai Dao Din” Boonpattararaksa and his friends are staying and seized 17 banners to be used on 19 Sep.

Jatupat livestreamed the search on his Facebook page on 17 September 2020. The police refused to let the activist group take a photo of the search warrant. They seized 17 banners with statements relating to the coup and reform of the monarchy that were to be brought to the protest on 19 Sep.

The police with a search warrant explained that the activists had not been charged but the police needed to find the evidence for an investigation. The police also told them that charges might be pressed later.

On 16 September 2020, Prachatai was informed by Local Democracy, a student activist group from northeastern Thailand, of which Jatupat is a member, that a red car without license plates was parked, with the engine running, in front of their rented house. 2 men, one with short hair and one with long hair, were sitting in a restaurant next to the house.

Jatupat believes that this harassment is due to their previous political action in front of Khon Kaen Mueang Police Station on 10 Sep. However, the banners seized were not related to that case, which means that no offence relating to the banners has yet been committed.

Jatupat is a student activist who was jailed for 870 days on a lèse majesté charge after he shared a BBC Thai biography of King Rama X. During his time in prison, his parents accepted the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights, South Korea’s most prestigious human rights award, on his behalf and after his release, he has continued his activities with the Free People movement.

Human Rights Watch reports serious concerns about the harassment of student activists and has called for the Thai authorities to stop arresting activists for their peaceful protests and to unconditionally drop all charges such as sedition.

Apart from leading protest figures, students who participated in protests this year face harassment in their schools, which claim that their activities affect the school’s reputation and disappoint their parents. Four university students and a high school student were also summoned by the police for alleged violations of the Emergency Decree and the Public Assembly Act.

Not long after the 18 July protest, the existence of a police list of 31 targeted people was revealed, including leading figures of the student movement, such as Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak and Tattep “Ford” Ruangprapaikijseree. 30 people in the list have so far been charged.

The case causing most concern is the arrest of lawyer Anon Nampa and student activist Panupong “Mike” Jadnok, who were detained for 5 days over a holiday weekend after they gave speeches on reform of the monarchy. However, they will continue their fight until they reach their dream, according to Anon and Panupong.

Police stopped the vehicles of students transporting equipment and booklets to the protest at Thammasat University’s Tha Prachan campus ahead of the afternoon’s protest.

Student activist Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak went live on Facebook at 10.40 on Saturday (19 September) as a group of police officers from Khlong Luang Police Station stopped the car transporting equipment and 50,000 copies of a booklet containing the transcription of the speeches on monarchy reform given at the 10 August demonstration at Thammasat University’s Rangsit campus which were to be given out at the protest on Saturday afternoon.

The police claimed that the content of the booklet is illegal and an attempt to overthrow the government and told the students that they will be taken to the police station if they do not cooperate. They also claimed that the operation is due to reasons of national security.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported that the five students sat with their arms linked together as police officers tried to bring them along with their car and the booklets to Khlong Luang Police Station.

The students tried to negotiate with the police, telling them to take only one pack of booklets for inspection, and that they can come confiscate the booklets at the protest later if they find anything illegal, but the police insisted on taking the car, claiming that there are other objects in the car.

The police then transferred the booklets to their car, and took the students with them to the police station. As officers took the booklets, the students said “We are not willing, but we have to surrender to force. The officers are all over the soi where our dorm is.”

At 15.25, TLHR reported that the police had confiscated the booklets, claiming that the content could be considered an insult to the monarchy. However, the students also gave testimony to add to the police’s confiscation record that there has been no court ruling that the booklets are banned or that it is illegal to own them.

In addition, Parit also posted on his Facebook page that four other students have been arrested on sedition charges, two of whom were scheduled to take the stage at Saturday’s protest. However, TLHR said that the police spokesperson insisted that there was no arrest.

There were also reports of protesters traveling to Bangkok from northern provinces such as Lamphun and Phayao being stopped at police checkpoints last night (18 September) and having their ID cards photographed by officers. Police officers in Srisaket also attempted to follow protesters traveling to join the protest in Bangkok, telling them that if the protesters don’t let them ride on the same vehicle, they will follow them.

Meanwhile, Parit posted last night (18 September) that a traditional drum teacher from Chiang Mai and his students who were previously scheduled to perform at the protest can no longer come to Bangkok after they were visited by police officers who asked them not to join the protest.

Leaders of the community human rights defenders in Nongbua Lamphu Province, northeastern Thailand, are facing repeated death threats as they continue the struggle to permanently shut down quarry mining that has impacted their health and environment.

Since 13 August 2020, the Community human rights defenders (W/HRDs) of Khao Lao Yai-Pha Jun Dai Conservation Group have been occupying the entrance of the quarry mine situated in Dong Mafai Sub District, Suwannakuha District, Nongbua Lamphu Province. They have declared their intent to permanently shut down the mining operation as the project lacks lawful community consent as well as the legal health and environmental assessment from the relevant agencies.

On 4 September 2020, the community reclaimed 175-Rai from the mining area and successfully declared it the ‘community forest zone’. Their actions came one day after the forest utilization permit expired and due to prior permit illegalities, the company could not renew their lease.

On Friday, 25 September 2020, the W/HRDs group plans to reclaim a further 50-Rai of land where the stone mill is in place. The action will take place one day after the mining permit expires on 24 September 2020. The community has declared it will uproot this last remnant of the mining project that has faced opposition from the community since 1994.

Between 1995-1999 four members of the community were killed, namely Boonrawd Duangkota, Sanan Suwan, Thongmuan Khamjaem, and Som HomPromma, for opposing the construction of the mine.

In the past month since the blockade of the mining entrance, there has been a repeated death threat against the organization supporting the community. Mr.Lertsak Kumkongsak, Environmental rights defender and an advisor to the Campaign for Public Policy on Mineral Resources (PPM), coordinator of the Ecological and Cultural Study Group and the Network of People Who Own Mineral Resources, has received repeated messages hinting that he is on ‘a hit list’

Anecdotal evidence leads many to believe that the planned killing of Lertsak has been commissioned by the owner of the mining company perhaps with the involvement of the government Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC)

Lertsak has received verbal threats specifically that his assassination has been commissioned and he will be shot if he does not back down from protesting against the mining operation. In recent days as the protest action nears, he was repeatedly approached by men carrying weapons such as guns. In multiple incidents Lertsak has been monitored and surveilled closely by various people suspected to have close ties with ISOC.

It is believed that he is to be executed between the dates of September 22 - 25 September 2020.

Protection International, Thailand has documented more than 70 cases of killing and enforced disappearances of community based women/human rights defenders in Thailand from the past 50 years.

Most of the perpetrators remain free and have never been brought to justice. There had been little or no progress in the investigating of attacks and threats made against community based women/human rights defenders.

The primary responsibility for protecting human rights defenders rests with the State. Four lives have already been taken in this struggle and it is the duty of the state to guarantee that no more harm is done to the W/HRDs.

Protection International calls on the Thai authorities and National Human Rights Commission to ensure the safety and protection of Mr.Lertsak Kumkongsak and other staff of the Campaign for Public Policy on Mineral Resources (PPM) as well as other community W/HRDs in Dongmafai who continue to defend their community and environment.

The Thai authorities , especially the Royal Thai Police , the Ministry of Justice , ISOC and The Provincial Governor of Nong Bua Lamphu must ensure that both administrative and security authorities exercise their utmost power to provide safety and protection to the Khao Lao Yai-Pha Jun Dai Forest Conservation Group during the blockade and their activities. They are simply exercising their rights according to the Constitution and they must be able to do so without fear of reprisals.

Protection International calls on The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), UNOHCHR ,UN Working Group on business and human rights , and all stakeholders to take urgent and concrete action to ensure the Thai government and its agencies protect Lertsak Kumkongsak while there is still time.

In the longer term they must use their resources to ensure the Thai Government and all relevant enterprises immediately end practices which encourage killings, intimidations and judicial harassment.

We urge all stakeholders to strengthen their methods of work and develop a more proactive strategy to reach out to human rights defenders in need of protection. The diplomatic community and UN agencies should be more vocal and publicly call for action when human rights defenders are at risk or are murdered. Background

Khao Lao Yai-Pha Jun Dai Forest Conservation Group is an environmental W/HRDs community-based group struggling against quarry mining in Dongmafai Subdistrict, Suwannakuha District, Nong Bua Lamphu Province. They have been struggling for over two decades in an attempt to stop the mining operations that lack the due process required for such mining projects.

Sadly, this has led to the killing of four members of the group between 1995 and 1999. No perpetrator was held responsible for the crimes.

It is estimated that the daily explosions from the mining sites, which cause noise pollution and damage to households due to falling debris, affect around 4,000 people residing in six villages close to the mining sites. Mining activities are also hindering the villagers’ access to food in the nearby community forest, since 175 out of 200 hectares are marked as mining areas.

The group demands for the rehabilitation of the forest into a conservation zone. Thailand’s Department of Fine Arts, under the Ministry of Culture, have registered some parts of the area as an important archaeological site, since mural paintings – estimated to be 2,000-3,000 years old – were found in the caves of a local cliff. According to the new 2017 Mining Act, a forest area containing watersheds or archaeological sites must be exempted from mining. However, although the reserve in Dongmafai Sub district has both, authorities are still allowing the company to continue its mining operations.

In 2004, due to unsatisfactory fulfilment of regulatory requirements, the Administrative Court revoked the company’s permit to exploit the forest and its mining license. However, the Supreme Administrative Court later overturned this decision in 2010 – when the mining permit was about to expire – and, instead, the company’s license was renewed for 10 years. It is now due to expire on 24th September 2020.

In 2018, after the local residents filed a lawsuit, the Udon Thani Administrative Court revoked the company’s second mining permit and ruled that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, as well as other government agencies, had failed in ensuring public participation, as required by the constitution, before granting the mining permit to the company. However, the company appealed the decision and the mining operations are still ongoing today.

Despite the local residents’ strenuous opposition to exploit the forest, which goes against the legal principle of obtaining a mining license, the company still sees its permit renewed. The Khao Lao Yai-Pha Jun Dai Forest Conservation Group has found a number of illegalities. Stratagems were used for the renewal procedures at the sub district administrative level, so to get the forest reserve approved for mining exploitation despite the villagers’ opposition. A mark designating an area as minable was found in a cave containing an archaeological site.

Two complaints have been filed with police against leaders of the weekend protest rally at Sanam Luang by the United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration.

One is an accusation of lese majeste under Section 112 of the Criminal Code, and the other over the installaton of a plaque symbolising democracy, allegedly in violation of the law on ancient monuments, antiques, objects of art and national museums, which applies to Sanam Luang.

About 1pm on Monday, Tul Sithisomwong, leader of the self-styled Multi-Coloured Group, filed a complaint with Chana Songkhram police against three protest leaders - Panusaya "Rung" Sithijirawattanakul, Arnon Nampa and Parit "Penguin" Chiwarak.

In the petition, the three were accused of violating Section 112 of the Criminal Code, or the lese majeste law, by delivering speeches calling for the reform of the monarchy and using inappropriate words, which allegedly caused Thai people in general to feel uncomfortable.

His petition was accompanied by photos of the event and audio recordings of the speeches made by the three protest leaders.

"I don't want them to end up in prison and, even so, I believe there would be a request for them to be pardoned. But I don't want to see this happen again," Dr Tul said.

"I don't mind if they talked about politics, the prime minister or the constitution, because they have the right to do so, but not about the monarchy, in their speeches over the media," he said.

Police accepted the complaint for consideration.

Earlier in the day, about 10.30am, Sathaporn Thiangtham, director of the Archaeology Division and representing the Fine Arts Department, filed a complaint with Chana Songkhram police against leaders of the protest for installing a plaque symbolising democracy in the ground at Sanam Luang.

Mr Sathaporn said doing so without permission may have violated the Ancient Monuments, Antiques, Objects of Art and National Museums Act of 1961, which applies to Sanam Luang. The ground is registered as an ancient site.

The complaint was accompanied by photos and related documents, and was also accepted for consideration.

The students' plaque declared that Thailand belongs to the people. It was dug up and removed on Sunday night, but no one has admitted seeing who did it.

Hong Kong police arrested prominent democracy activist Joshua Wong on Thursday for participating in an unauthorised assembly in October 2019 and violating the city's anti-mask law, according to a post on his official Twitter account.

Wong's latest arrest adds to several unlawful assembly charges or suspected offences he and other activists are facing related to last year's pro-democracy protests, which prompted Beijing to impose a sweeping national security law on June 30.

Hong Kong police confirmed they arrested two men, aged 23 and 74, on Thursday for illegal assembly on Oct 5, 2019.

The arrest of Wong, aged 23, comes around 6 weeks after media tycoon Jimmy Lai was detained on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces.

Wong had been a frequent visitor to Washington where he appealed to the U.S. Congress to support Hong Kong's democracy movement and counter Beijing's tightening grip over the global financial hub. His visits drew the wrath of Beijing, which says he is a "black hand" of foreign forces.

Wong disbanded his pro-democracy group Demosisto in June, just hours after China's parliament passed national security law for Hong Kong, bypassing the city's local legislature, a move widely criticised by Western governments.

His long-time colleague, Agnes Chow, and two other activists were also among 10 people police arrested in August on suspicion of violating the new law.

The new law punishes anything China considers as subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, with up to life in prison.

Wong was just 17 years old when he became the face of the 2014 student-led Umbrella Movement democracy protests, but he was not a leading figure of the often violent unrest that shook the semi-autonomous former British colony last year.

An anti-mask law was introduced last year in a bid to help police identify the protesters they suspected of committing crimes and it is facing a challenge in court. In the meantime, the Hong Kong government has made face masks mandatory in most circumstances due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The European Union on Thursday criticised the arrest of the prominent activist, saying it was "troubling" and undermined trust in China.

"The arrest of Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong on 24 September is the latest in a troubling series of arrests of pro-democracy activists since the summer," an EU spokesperson said, calling for "very careful scrutiny" by the judiciary.

"Developments in Hong Kong call into question China's will to uphold its international commitments, undermine trust and impact EU-China relations."

The EU has repeatedly voiced concern at the new Hong Kong security law, which critics say erodes important freedoms in the city.

Last week senior EU leaders pressed Chinese President Xi Jinping over the situation in Hong Kong at a video summit, saying democratic rights in the city must be preserved.

On September 17, Hanoi security forces detained prominent dissident Nguyen Quang A for several hours in a bid to prevent him from meeting with US Ambassador in Vietnam Daniel Kritenbrink.

Dr. A, who is the head of the unregistered group Vietnam Civil Society, said the American Ambassador invited him to a coffee meeting in his private residence in Hanoi at 3.30 pm on Thursday. He planned to leave his house early to go to a bank before heading to the meeting. However, when he tried to go at 2 pm, he recognized a group of ten policemen staying near his house in Gia Lam district.

Realizing that the policemen were waiting for him, Dr. A intended to go back to his house to inform the diplomat about the police blockade, however, the policemen detained him and took him to a car, and the vehicle headed to the Ngoc Thuy ward police station, where he was held many times before.

Dr. A strongly protested the police’s move, saying his detention is illegal. He knows that their purpose is to block him from meeting with the US Ambassador but the police officers asked him about his posts on Facebook.

A told them that this detention is the 18th in recent years, and he will not answer any question from them. At 5.30 pm, the police released him.

Along with blocking Dr. A from going abroad, Vietnam’s security forces have detained him many times in a bid to prevent him from meeting with foreign diplomats from the EU and the US as well as other Western countries.

Authorities in Vietnam have arrested a Facebook user for sharing his grievances about how the local government has handled a dispute over his family’s land, RFA has learned.

Le Van Hai, from Binh Dinh province in the country’s South Central Coast region was charged with “abusing freedom and democratic rights to infringe upon the interests of the state” under Article 33 of Vietnam’s 2015 Penal Code.

Local media outlet Youth Online reported the arrest Friday and it was confirmed by police in Binh Dinh.

According to the report, Le was detained over a period of two months, and police conducted a search of his residence in the coastal city of Qui Nhon.

The police investigation into Le’s case states that he often used his Facebook account to share or post many stories that slandered or offended the prestige of Vietnamese government leaders, including communist party members and provincial officials.

Le had also sent many complaints to Binh Dinh authorities asking for compensation payments because his family’s house and land had been confiscated to build a wastewater treatment plant in Qui Nhon.

When authorities denied the request, he shared his frustration on Facebook.

While all land in Vietnam is ultimately held by the state, land confiscations have become a flashpoint as residents accuse the government of pushing small landholders aside in favor of lucrative real estate projects, and of paying too little in compensation to farming families displaced by development.

Le’s case came to light after a court in Hanoi sentenced two vilagers to death, and gave several others long sentences, in the trial of 29 villagers over a deadly land-rights clash in January at the Dong Tam commune near Vietnam’s capital.

Three police officers were killed in the Jan. 9 clash when they were attacked by petrol bombs and fell into a concrete shaft while running between two houses. The village elder and father of the two condemned convicts also died in the raid.

Vietnam, with a population of 92 million people, of which 55 million are estimated to be users of Facebook, has been consistently rated “not free” in the areas of internet and press freedom by Freedom House, a U.S.-based watchdog group.

Dissent is not tolerated in the communist nation, and authorities routinely use a set of vague provisions in the penal code to detain dozens of writers and bloggers.

A journalist from Tripura was beaten up by unidentified individuals, after he criticised Chief Minister Biplab Deb’s remark that he will not forgive media houses for publishing stories of alleged mismanagement of the coronavirus crisis by the Bharatiya Janata Party government, NDTV reported on Monday.

Parashar Biswas, a journalist with a Bengali newspaper, made the criticism after being discharged from a coronavirus care centre. In his video, posted on Facebook on Saturday, Biswas said he wanted to warn the chief minister that he should not threaten the media.

Biswas was thrashed at his house in Ambassa, the headquarters of Dhalai district, on Saturday night. He was critically injured and was taken to a hospital in Agartala. “We have filed a case and are investigating the attack,” Deputy General of Police Rajiv Singh said.

Subal Dey, the editor of Syandan Patrika, where Biswas works, said he was attacked within 12 hours after he made the Facebook post. “He was attacked within a day after the chief minister issued a threat against the media and within 12 hours of his Facebook post. We suspect this attack to have been carried out by BJP members.”

But the BJP denied it was responsible for the attack. “We condemn the attack on the journalist,” Tripura BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharjee said. “None of our party members are involved in this. Police has started investigation. If any political party members are involved, law will take its course.”

Deb had said on Friday that he would not “forgive” the media for its allegedly “confused” coverage of the coronavirus situation in the state. “A few newspapers and journalists are getting overexcited and confusing the people of Tripura,” he had said. “History would not forget them. I will also not forgive them. People of Tripura will not forget them. Biplab Deb will not forget them. I do what I say, I keep my words. History will remain witness to it.”

Journalists in Agartala held a meeting on Sunday under the forum “Assembly of Journalists”, and asked Deb to withdraw his statement. “Within 24 hours of Chief Minister’s public threat to newspapers, a journalist has been attacked, beaten brutally,” they said in a statement. “This has led to a feeling of insecurity among journalists in the state.” The group said that if Deb did not withdraw his statement, they might have to approach Governor Ramesh Bais, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Press Council of India.

Forum for Protection of Media and Journalists in Tripura Chairperson Subal Kumar Dey said the comments of the chief minister were “undemocratic and unconstitutional”, News18 reported. “We hope he will withdraw his remark within the next three days,” Dey said.

Dey claimed that not one but two journalists have been attacked since Saturday. “The state is trying to enslave media persons,” he alleged. “State government orders are issued to choke journalists’ voices.”

Tripura has so far reported 19,165 cases of the coronavirus, including 200 deaths, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. As many as 11,536 people have recovered.

The famous Urdu poet Munawwar Rana’s daughters, Sumaiya Rana and Uzma Parveen had asked people to gather near the Chief Minister’s residence and beat ‘thalis’ to make their voices heard.

Post this, they have been placed under house arrest on Wednesday in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow, over their call for the protest against the UP government led by the Chief Minister Ajay Singh Bisht also known as Yogi Adityanath, the police said.

Sumaiyya and Uzma, who had also played a key role in the anti-CAA protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019, in Lucknow earlier this year, had asked the public to raise their voices against a host of increasing ongoing issues, and mishandling of the raging coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

Sumaiyya who lives at Kaiserbagh in Lucknow, said, “The UP government has failed in containing the contagion in the state. Private hospitals are fleecing the public because the state government is turning a blind eye on them. The COVID-19-related high mortality rate has further worsened the healthcare crisis in UP. Besides, the state government has also failed in curbing unemployment that has started taking a toll on the state’s youths. I had given a call to make our voices heard. ”

After this incident, a large number of policemen were seen outside the Silver Heights Apartments in Kaiserbagh area where they live.

Besides, the police didn’t allow the protesters to gather outside the CM’s residence.

The police spokesperson said since Section 144 is in force in the state capital, no congregation of people could be allowed.

The cases against them have been registered on charges making objectionable comments on social media, public obstruction, violating Section 144 and disturbing peace.

Kepolisian Daerah (Polda) Aceh, diminta harus taat pada aturan Dewan Pers, dalam menyelesaikan persengketaan antara Pimpinan Redaksi Metro Aceh, Bahrul Walidin dengan Direktur PT Imza Rizky Jaya, Hj Cut Rizayati. Sebagaimana diketahui, Direktur Utama PT Imza Rizky Jaya Rizayati, melalui penerima kuasa Rizaldi telah melaporkan Pemimpin Redaksi Metro Aceh Bahrul Walidin, ke Polda Aceh pada 24 Agustus 2020, dengan nomor laporan: STTLP/228/VIII/YAN.2.5/2020 SPKT, atas kasus pencemaran nama baik.

Ketua Umum Alinasi Jurnalis Indepen (AJI) Indonesia, Abdul Manan mengatakan, tudingan tentang pencemaran nama baik tersebut, bermula ketika Metro Aceh menayangkan berita yang berjudul “Hj Rizayati Dituding Wanita Penipu Ulung” pada 20 Agustus 2020.

“Berita itu ditulis berdasarkan keterangan dari korbannya Rizayanti dan sejumlah narasumber yang bertanggungjawab. Setelah beberapa saat berita tersebut tayang, maka Rizayati menghubungi Bahrul Walidin melalui pesan aplikasi WhatsApp dan mengaku keberatan diberitakan,” ujar Abdul Manan.

Abdul Manan menambahkan, direktur tersebut malah mengatakan kalau berita itu tidak sesuai dengan fakta yang sebenarnya, sementara hak jawab yang dikonfirmasi melalui telepon seluler sudah dimuat.

Bukan hanya itu saja, Rizayati diduga mengancam dengan melingkari foto-foto Bahrul Walidin dan ditambah kalimat bernada ancaman, salah satunya “Tiada Ampun Bagimu Wartawan Bodrex”.

“Maka kami meminta Polda Aceh agar melimpahkan kasus sengketa pemberitaan antara Direktur Utama PT Imza Rizky Jaya Rizayati dengan Pemimpin Redaksi Metro Aceh Bahrul Walidin ke Dewan Pers,” tutur Abdul Manan.

Tambahnya, mengapa harus melalui mekanisme Dewan Pers, karena sesuai dengan Nota Kesepahaman antara Dewan Pers dengan Kepolisian Negara Republik Indonesia tentang Koordinasi Dalam Perlindungan Kemerdekaan Pers pada 2017.

“Jurnalis dalam melaksanakan profesinya, mendapat perlindungan hukum sesuai yang tercantum dalam Pasal 8 Undang-undang Nomor 40 Tahun 1999 Tentang Pers. Selain itu, orang yang melakukan kekerasan terhadap jurnalis baik fisik maupun verbal dapat dijerat pasal pidana,” Kata Abdul Manan.

Juru Bicara Aliansi Gerakan Buruh Bersama Rakyat (GEBRAK) Nining Elitos mengatakan lebih dari 100 orang diamankan polisi karena hendak bergabung dalam demonstrasi menolak Rancangan Undang Undang (RUU) Omnibus Law Cipta Kerja.

Demo GEBRAK digelar di Jakarta, tepatnya di depan Gedung DPR. Nining mengatakan, massa yang diamankan itu merupakan pemuda dan mahasiswa yang berangkat menggunakan bis dan kereta.

"Kami belum tahu persis, tapi informasi kami dapat lebih dari 100-an. Informasi kami dapatkan dari komunikasi Kapolda dan Komnas HAM ada lebih dari 30 orang diamankan di Polda Metro Jaya," kata dia di depan Gedung DPR/MPR, Jumat (14/8) malam.

Nining menyayangkan penangkapan itu. Sebab, kata dia, pihaknya sudah mengirim pemberitahuan bahwa aksi itu diikuti dari berbagai elemen masyarakat.

"Artinya, aksi ini adalah aksi yang legal yang sudah diberitahukan bahwa kelompok yang turun hari ini tidak hanya pemuda. Tapi mahasiswa, petani dan sektor-sektor lain, kami menegaskan sikap kami menolak RUU Omnibus," kata dia.

Kapolres Metro Jakarta Pusat Kombes Pol Heru Novianto membenarkan ada massa yang diamankan. Namun ia mengatakan peristiwa itu ditangani oleh Polda Metro Jaya.

Kabid Humas Polda Metro Jaya Kombes Yusri Yunus mengatakan ada sekitar 70-80 orang yang diamankan aparat. Orang-orang yang diamankan itu, kata dia, bukan merupakan kelompok buruh atau mahasiswa.

"Itu adalah orang-orang yang mau bikin kacau, dia bawa bendera anarko, batu, botol, dirazia pada saat mau demo, kita periksa bukan kelompok buruh dan mahasiswa. Kelompok sendiri," kata dia saat dihubungi, Jumat (14/8) malam.

Yusri bilang, setelah diperiksa dan diambil keterangannya, sebagian besar orang yang diamankan itu kemudian dipulangkan oleh aparat.

"Yang masih proses lanjut sekitar 8 orang karena ada unsur pidana misal bawa molotov, ketapel. Masih proses lanjut pemeriksaan," kata dia.

Kasus dugaan intimidasi terhadap terhadap Arif, wartawan Radar Mandalika yang dilakukan oknum anggota Satuan Polisi Pamong Praja (Satpol PP) Pemprov NTB saat meliput aksi demonstrasi, di depan kantor gubernur NTB pada Senin (24/8/2020) menuai reaksi berbagai pihak.

Ketua Forum Wartawan Pemprov dan DPRD NTB, Fahrul Mustofa menyesalkan kejadian yang menimpa jurnalis yang tengah melakukan tugas peliputan tersebut.

“Setelah menonton langsung aksi intimidasi itu, serta mendengar langsung informasi dari kawan-kawan yang menyaksikan kejadian itu, kami mengecam aksi brutal itu. Sekali lagi, itu enggak etis dan enggak boleh lagi terjadi,” tegasnya, Selasa (25/8/2020).

Menurut Fahrul, aksi aparat itu harus disikapi oleh kepala OPD yang bersangkutan. Bila perlu Sekda NTB HL Gita Ariadi selaku pembina kepagawaian harus menegur Kepala Satpol PP NTB.

Pasalnya, antara jurnalis dan pemerintah daerah adalah mitra strategis guna menyiarkan program-program pemerintah sekaligus mengawal jalannnya pemerintah daerah.

"Sesuai PP Nomor 53 tahun 2010 tentang disiplin PNS sudah diatur sangsi pada PNS/ASN yang melakukan pelanggaran disiplin itu. Maka, kami minta oknum Satpol PP itu agar ditindak dan diberikan sangsi sesuai peraturan perundang-undangan," tegasnya.

Terpisah, Sekretaris Forum Wartawan DPRD NTB dan Pemprov NTB, Iman Maqdis juga menyayangkan tindakan premenisme yang dilakukan oknum Satpol PP itu.

Padahal, menurutnya, tugas Satpol PP adalah menjaga ketertiban dan keamanan, serta bukan melakukan intimidasi.

"Kalaupun ada mediasi, sekali lagi itu sifatnya pribadi dan bukan kelembagaan. Kami minta agar persoalan ini akan terus berlanjut, sehingga ada efek jera agar tidak muncul persoalan serupa di kemudian hari," tandasnya.

Terkait masalah tersebut, sejumlah organisasi pers seperti Aliansi Jurnalis Independen (AJI) Mataram, PWI NTB, AMSI NTB hingga IJTI setempat juga menyesalkan tindakan represif tersebut.

Sebelumnya, Kepala Satpol PP NTB, Tri Budi Prayitno telah meminta maaf secara terbuka atas aksi represif dan yang dilakukan salah satu anggotanya.

Perlu diketahui, Arif mendapat diintimidasi kala meliput Aliansi Mahasiswa Peduli Palestina NTB di depan kantor Gubernur NTB, Senin (24/8/2020) lalu. Saat itu dia didorong dan diminta menghapus rekaman gambarnya oleh seorang oknum Satpol PP.

Dalam rentang waktu satu bulan terakhir, beberapa anggota masyarakat adat Kinipan, Kecamatan Batang Kawa, Kabupaten Lamandau Kalimantan Tengah ditangkap. Koalisi Keadilan untuk Kinipan menganggap penangkapan masyarakat adat Kinipan ini adalah upaya kriminalisasi membungkam perjuangan masyarakat adat Kinipan dalam perlawanan terhadap ekspansi perkebunan PT Sawit Mandiri Lestari (SML).

Rabu (26/8/2020) siang, pasukan kepolisian yang di antaranya berseragam hitam, lengkap dengan rompi, helm dan senjata laras panjang, dilaporkan menangkap paksa Effendi Buhing, Ketua Komunitas Adat Laman Kinipan di rumahnya di Desa Kinipan, Kecamatan Batang Kawa, Kabupaten Lamandau.

Dari video penangkapan yang beredar, Effendi Buhing sempat menolak dirinya ditangkap. Karena menurut Effendi, penangkapan tersebut tidak jelas alasan dan persoalannya. Namun demikian, pihak polisi tetap memaksa menangkap dirinya.

Effendi terlihat diseret paksa oleh sejumlah personel kepolisian dari rumahnya menuju mobil berwarna hitam yang sudah disiapkan. Di dekat mobil tersebut, juga terlihat polisi berseragam warna hitam dan bersenjata api laras panjang. Penangkapan Effendi ini diiringi suara histeris warga dan keluarganya. Sejauh ini belum diketahui persoalan apa yang menyebabkan Effendi Buhing ditangkap.

Penangkapan Effendi ini menuai tanggapan keras dari Koalisi Keadilan untuk Kinipan. Koalisi yang di antaranya termasuk Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara (AMAN) Kalteng, Wahana Lingkungan Hidup (Walhi) Kalteng dan Save Our Borneo ini menyatakan sikap. Pertama, mengecam keras tindakkan represif aparat Kepolisian dari Polda Kalteng atas penangkapan Effendi Buhing di rumahnya pada Rabu, 26 Agustus 2020.

Koalisi juga mendesak Kapolda Kalteng segera membebaskan Effendi Buhing dan 5 warga Komunitas Adat Laman Kinipan lainnya yang telah ditangkap sebelumnya. Selanjutnya, Koalisi juga meminta agar upaya kriminalisasi terhadap tetua, tokoh, masyarakat adat dan pejuang lingkungan yang berjuang mempertahankan hak, hutan, wilayah adat dan ruang hidup mereka dari ancaman alih fungsi kawasan oleh PT SML dihentikan.

"Mendesak agar pemerintah melakukan evaluasi terhadap izin PT Sawit Mandiri Lestari yang beroperasi di wilayah adat Kinipan," kata Direktur Walhi Kalteng, Dimas N. Hartono, Rabu (26/8/2020).

Dimas mengatakan, pihaknya telah menyiapkan pendamping hukum untuk Effendi Buhing. Saat ini pendamping hukum yang ditunjuk tengah melakukan komunikasi dengan pihak kepolian terkait penangkapan Effendi.

Menurut Dimas, penangkapan Effendi, Riswan dan 4 warga Kinipan lainnya ini merupakan salah satu upaya kriminalisasi, agar masyarakat tidak melakukan penolakan terhadap kehadiran PT SML.

"Kita berharap polisi tidak sebatas melihat sisi ini saja. Tapi akar masalahnya ini yang harus dilihat. Masyarakat berupaya melindungi hak mereka, melindungi peninggalan nenek moyang mereka agar tidak dirusak atau dihilangkan oleh perusahaan. Apalagi kita ketahui bersama di lokasi tersebut potensi ulinnya masih sangat besar," kata Dimas.

Dimas mengatakan, berdasarkan catatan Walhi Kalteng, sejak 2005 hingga 2018 terdapat 345 konflik antara masyarakat dengan perkebunan kelapa sawit. Semua konflik tersebut rentan terjadinya kriminalisasi dan penangkapan terkait penolakan investasi yang ada di Kalteng.

"Kenapa ini bisa terjadi? Itu yang harus dilihat lebih mendalam. Kenapa masyarakat melakukan penolakan-penolakan. Karena hak mereka tidak diakui. Khususnya terkait di Kinipan itu sendiri adalah hak mereka dalam hal mengelola wilayah adatnya sendiri secara mandiri."

Sebelum Effendi Buhing ditangkap, ada 5 warga Kinipan lainnya yang juga ditangkap dan ditahan Polda Kalteng. Yakni Riswan, Desem, Yusa, Teki dan Embang. Mereka ditangkap dan ditahan di waktu yang berbeda.

Riswan ditangkap pihak Polda Kalteng satu hari menjelang peringatan kemerdekaan Republik Indonesia yang ke-75, 16 Agustus 2020. Riswan dituduh mencuri alat pemotong kayu atau chainsaw yang digunakan para penebang ulin di areal perkebunan sawit PT SML.

Sedangkan Desem, Yusa, Teki dan Embang, dibawa ke Polda Kalteng beberapa pekan sebelum Riswan ditangkap. Kala itu keempatnya dibawa untuk dimintai keterangan. Namun belakangan, beberapa dari mereka ditetapkan sebagai tersangka dan ditahan di Polda Kalteng dengan tuduhan yang sama dengan tuduhan yang dialamatkan kepada Riswan. Yakni dugaan tindak pidana pencurian dengan kekerasan, Pasal 365 KUHPidana.

Kasus Riswan

Terkait kasus Riswan, Ketua AMAN Kalteng, Ferdi Kurinianto dalam konferensi pers yang digelar pada Senin (24/8/2020) menjelaskan, Riswan ditangkap 3 pekan setelah mediasi antara komunitas adat Kinipan dengan PT SML gagal dilaksanakan di Kantor Camat Batang Kawa di Desa Kinipan, atau 2 bulan sejak kegiatan yang dituduhkan kepadanya.

Riswan yang sehari-hari bekerja sebagai Kasi Pemerintah Desa Kinipan ini ditetapkan sebagai tersangka oleh penyidik reserse kriminal umum Polda Kalteng dengan tuduhan tindak pidana pencurian dengan kekerasan sebagaimana dimaksud dalam pasal 365 KUHP.

Tindak pidana pencurian dengan kekerasan yang dituduhkan kepada Riswan tersebut merujuk pada kejadian 23 Juni 2020. Pada saat itu, warga Kinipan tengah berjaga di hulu Sungai Toin, untuk mempertahankan hutan adatnya, lalu mendengar suara mesin chain saw yang menjadi tanda masih adanya aktivitas penebangan dan pemotongan kayu ulin oleh para pekerja PT SML.

Riswan dan kawan-kawan, lanjut Ferdi, kemudian mendatangi dan menghentikan aktivitas tersebut. Sementera satu hari sebelumnya (22/6/2020) warga Komunitas Adat Kinipan berupaya menghentikan alat berat PT SML yang hendak masuk melakukan land clearing dan membabat sisa hutan Kinipan yang bahkan saat ini sudah masuk di areal bekas perladangan warga.

Padahal pada 22 Juni 2020 itu pula telah ada kesepakatan secara lisan antara perwakilan Humas Perusahaan dengan warga bahwa tidak ada lagi aktivitas lanjutan sementara menunggu perundingan pada 29 Juni 2020 di kantor Camat Batang Kawa.

"Jadi pada tanggal 22 Juni itu ada pertemuan antara warga dengan pihak perusahan di hutan. Ada lebih 50-an orang dari pihak perusahaan. Ada kesepakatan sebenarnya, bahwa tidak ada lagi pekerjaan selama menunggu kesepakatan musyarawah pada tanggal 29 Juni. Tapi nyatanya pada tanggal 23 Juni perusahaan bekerja. Begitulah yang akhirnya memunculkan respon dari warga untuk menahan mesin (chain saw) tersebut," ungkap Ferdi, Senin (24/8/2020).

Ferdi mengatakan, sejak 2012, Kinipan selalu menolak hadirnya investasi sawit di wilayah adat mereka. Pihak pemerintah desa dan tetua adat tidak pernah membubuhkan tanda tangan persetujuan untuk masuknya perusahaan perkebunan sawit skala besar di wilayah adatnya.

Penolakan masyarakat adat Kinipan tersebut kemudian menjadi konflik yang memanas dengan PT SML, terutama sejak perusahaan melakukan kegiatan land clearing dan pembabatan hutan pada awal 2018. Permintaan dan desakan warga Kinipan agar PT SML menghentikan aktivitas land clearing dan pemotongan kayu ulin, tak juga berhenti.

"Padahal warga Kinipan telah melakukan berbagai upaya untuk mencari keadilan. Mulai dari Pemerintah Kabupaten Lamandau dan Pemerintah Provinsi Kalimantan Tengah, Komnas HAM, Kementerian ATR/BPN, KemenLHK, hingga 2 kali melakukan mediasi di Kantor Staf Presiden (KSP) di Jakarta. Namun upaya mencari keadilan atas sumber daya alam dan hak-hak mereka tak kunjung didapat."

Penangkapan dan penahanan warga Kinipan akhir-akhir ini, kata Ferdi, memperlihatkan watak otoritarian dan arogansi.

"Koalisi mengupayakan proses penangguhan penahanan kepada Riswan dengan dasar bahwa Riswan memiliki riwayat kesehatan, wasir yang cukup serius, sehingga dengan adanya penangguhan penahanan ini Riswan dapat menjalani proses perawatan untuk kesembuhan penyakitnya. Penangguhan penahanan ini akan memberi ruang bagi Riswan dalam pelaksanaan tugas dan tanggung jawabnya sebagai perangkat Desa Kinipan," kata Ferdi.

Koalisi juga menyatakan, Komunitas Adat Kinipan merupakan pejuang, pahlawan lingkungan dan budaya yang berusaha untuk mempertahankan haknya dari upaya perampasan dan penghancuran oleh korporasi dan modal. Oleh sebab itu Negara semestinya melakukan upaya perlindungan bagi warga Kinipan dan memastikan terciptanya rasa aman bagi masyarakat adat Kinipan.

"Bukan sebaliknya malah melakukan tindakan-tindakan represif dan intimidatif atas perjuangan warga tersebut."

Koalisi juga meminta agar pemerintah harus segera menyelesaikan konflik Kinipan dengan PT SML melalui mekanisme yang sesuai dengan konteks masyarakat adat Laman Kinipan. Adil, jujur, terbuka serta mengedepankan asas sebagaimana yang tertuang dalam Pancasila.

Kemudian, pemerintah harus segera mengesahkan RUU Masyarakat Adat dan Raperda Masyarakat Adat Kalimantan Tengah sebagai jaminan untuk memastikan masyarakat adat dan hak-haknya sebagai subjek hukum terlindungi secara konstitusional.

"Penangkapan Riswan bukan hanya bersifat individual, tapi ini adalah kasus kolektif komunitas adat Laman Kinipan yang dilatarbelakangi oleh konflik tenurial yang tak kunjung selesai antara komunitas adat laman Kinipan dengan PT SML."

Terkait 4 warga Kinipan lain yang juga ditahan Polda. Ferdi menjelaskan, sejauh ini pendampingan hukum terhadap keempat warga tersebut ditangani oleh Fordayak. Karena keempat warga tersebut adalah anggota pasukan Motanoi yang merupakan bagian dari Fordayak. Namun berdasarkan informasi yang didapat, beberapa di antaranya sudah ditetapkan sebagai tersangka oleh Polda Kalteng.

Parlin Bayu Hutabarat, salah seorang kuasa hukum Riswan meminta penangguhan penahanan terhadap Riswan dapat segera dikabulkan. Karena apa yang dituduhkan bukanlah kejahatan luar biasa.

"Kami melihat ini bukan extra ordinary crime. Ini bagian dari perjuangan. Riswan meyakini apa yang dilakukan itu adalah mempertahankan hutan adat. Terlepas itu pendirian penyidik seperti apa jaksa seperti apa, tapi pendirian kami apa yang dilakukan klien kami adalah mempertahankan hutan adat," kata Parlin, Senin (24/8/2020).

Kabid Humas Polda Kalteng, Kombes Pol Hendra Rochmawan membenarkan kabar tentang penangkapan Effendi Buhing tersebut. Hendra mengatakan, penangkapan ini berawal dari 3 laporan PT SML.

"Pada prinsipnya Polda Kalteng profesional dalam menanggapi laporan polisi tersebut dengan bukti permulaan yang cukup sehingga perlu dilaksanakan penangkapan. Pada prinsipnya semua pihak mempunyai hak yang sama di muka hukum. Nanti dari penangkapan ini tentu ada pemeriksaan dan penyelidikan ini dapat memberi ruang jawab atas laporan tersebut," kata Kombes Pol Hendra Rochmawan, Rabu (26/8/2020).

Di kesempatan sebelumnya, saat ditanya tentang peluang penangguhan penahanan Riswan yang diajukan oleh pihak kuasa hukum Riswan, Hendra hanya mengatakan, pihaknya masih melakukan proses penyidikan terlebih dahulu.

Humas PT SML, Wendi, saat diminta konfrmasi, menyatakan tidak bersedia memberikan keterangan melalui sambungan telepon.

Aksi mahasiswa Pergerakan Mahasiswa Islam Indonesia (PMII) mendesak Bupati Blitar Rijanto bersikap tegas terhadap praktik tambang pasir (Galian C) ilegal dibubarkan sekelompok preman. Dengan berteriak kasar, massa yang datang dengan menumpang empat truk memaksa para aktivis mahasiswa menghentikan aksi unjuk rasa di Kantor Pemkab Blitar.

"Mereka berteriak-teriak dan inginnya kami membubarkan diri," ujar Ketua PMII Blitar Fathur Rohman, Rabu (26/8/2020).

Tidak diketahui pasti dari mana puluhan orang itu berasal. Dari penampilan dan tindak tanduknya yang kasar, kata Rohman, mereka seperti kelompok preman. "Sepertinya preman," ujar Rohman.

Gerombolan orang yang berjumlah lebih besar tersebut langsung membayangi massa aktivis mahasiswa yang berjumlah sekitar 50an orang. Begitu turun dari truk yang sepintas terlihat bekas pengangkut material pasir, mereka langsung menyatroni para aktivis mahasiswa yang tengah berorasi. Tidak hanya menghardik dan berteriak kasar.

Ada beberapa yang juga melakukan aksi melempar yang untungnya berhasil dihindari. "Intinya kami dipaksa bubar tidak melanjutkan demo," kata Fathur Rohman.

Tekanan massa tandingan yang berlangsung di Kantor Pemkab dan Polres Blitar tersebut tidak menyurutkan semangat para aktivis untuk terus menyuarakan aspirasi.

Puluhan aktivis PMII Blitar Raya mendesak Blitar Rijanto untuk bersikap tegas terhadap praktek tambang pasir liar (Galian C) yang marak di Kabupaten Blitar.

Para aktivis mendesak Pemkab segera menerbitkan regulasi yang jelas. "Kami tidak menuntut penutupan tambang. Tapi meminta ada regulasi jelas untuk penertiban dan pengelolaan," kata Fathur Rohman.

Dalam orasinya para aktivis menuding pemkab terkesan membiarkan praktik pertambangan ilegal. Bertahun tahun para penambang, yakni terutama dari kelompok pemodal, leluasa melakukan aktivitas ilegalnya.

Mulai di kawasan DAS Brantas hingga di wilayah Gunung Kelud, yakni di Kecamatan Kademangan, Sutojayan, Garum, Gandusari dan Nglegok, mayoritas penambang tidak ada yang berizin.

"Kalau pun ada yang berizin, setelah kita cek mereka hanya klaim," papar Fathur Rohman.

Tidak hanya merusak lingkungan, yakni terutama mata air dan pencemaran lingkungan. Aktivitas tambang liar dengan ratusan kendaraan pengangkut material yang berlalu lalang juga merusak jalan dan bangunan rumah warga.

Menanggapi aksi dengan dua massa yang bersitegang, Kabag Ops Polres Blitar Kompol Sapto Rachmadi mengatakan, polres hanya menerima surat pemberitahuan dari mahasiswa.

Sementara massa tandingan yang ternyata golongan para penambang pasir, kata Sapto tidak menyampaikan pemberitahuan. "Tidak sampai ada bentrokan dan kontak fisik. Mereka langsung bubar," ujar Sapto Rahmadi.

Tiga orang nelayan di Makassar, Sulawesi Selatan (Sulsel) melakukan protes terhadap kapal penambang pasir. Namun protes mereka itu berujung petaka.

Pada Minggu (23/8/2020) polisi menangkap tiga orang nelayan saat mereka melancarkan protes kepada kapal penambang pasir. Penangkapan ini juga diwarnai dengan penenggelaman kapal milik nelayan.

Tak terima dengan kejadian itu, pihak keluarga kemudian meminta bantuan hukum kepada LBH Makassar. Kepala Divisi Tanah dan Lingkungan LBH Makassar Edy Kurniawan membenarkan peristiwa tersebut.

"Ketiga nelayan (yang ditangkap) tersebut bernama Safaruddin, Faisal dan Baharuddin," kata Edy melalui keterangan tertulis yang diterima detikcom, Senin (24/8/2020).

Edy menuturkan peristiwa ini terjadi pada pukul 10.00 Wita saat kapal tambang pasir milik PT B menambang pasir di wilayah tangkap nelayan. Di area itulah para nelayan menggantungkan hidupnya.

"Akibatnya, para nelayan kehilangan hasil tangkapan karena lautnya langsung jadi keruh," beber Edy.

Merasa terganggu dengan aktivitas tambah karena air keruh, nelayan kemudian melakukan protes. Namun rencana tersebut tak sampai lantaran kapal penambang pasir itu dikawal oleh satu kapal perang dan empat kapal sekoci milik Direktorat Polairud Polda Sulsel.

Edy menerangkan seorang nelayan langsung didatangi dan ingin diborgol, namun yang bersangkutan menolak. Nelayan itu juga diancam, lepa-lepa atau kapal kecil miliknya ditenggelamkan.

"Beruntung nelayan berhasil menyelamatkan diri dengan melompat ke laut," beber Edy.

Delhi Police arrested former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Umar Khalid under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for instigating the North-East Delhi riots that broke out in February this year.

“Khalid was one of the main conspirators of riots in which 53 persons died and over 400 were injured,” special cell of Delhi Police said after the arrest.

The former JNU scholar has been questioned twice by the police over the last two months for speeches he delivered at the Shaheen Bagh protest site. According to the police, Khalid had planned the riots with former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain.

Khalid was charged with sedition and arrested in February 2016 too, for allegedly shouting anti-India slogans inside the JNU campus along with former student union president Kanhaiya Kumar and others.

“We arrested Umar Khalid late Sunday night,” said a senior police officer associated with the probe, requesting not to be named.

On August 3, the suspended AAP councillor had reportedly confessed to his crime and told the police that he was given the task to collect as much glass bottle, petrol, acid, stones as possible during the violence.

Communal violence broke out in Delhi between anti-CAA and pro-CAA protesters in February this year. Hundreds of people were detained in connection with the violence and police faced criticism for their slack management of protesters and ineffective handling of the riots.

Beijing police seized publisher Geng Xiaonan (耿潇男) and her husband Qin Zhen (秦真) on September 9. Both have been criminally detained on suspicion of “illegal business activity” and are being held at Haidian District Detention Center. Geng had alerted the world to the July detention of then-Tsinghua University professor and outspoken critic of Xi Jinping, Xu Zhangrun (许章润). Geng had organized the trip which Xu attended and which police later accused him of “soliciting prostitutes” while on. She has also tried to raise awareness of the ongoing enforced disappearance of citizen journalist Chen Qiushi (陈秋实), who reported from Wuhan during the COVID-19 pandemic and has been missing in police custody since February 6. Authorities recently began an investigation into her and her husband’s publishing company, Ruiya Books (北京瑞雅文化传播有限公司), in what appears to be retaliation for her speaking out.

Hubei activist and blogger Liu Yanli (刘艳丽), 45, lost her appeal against the 4-year prison sentence handed down in violation of her right to freedom of expression. Jingmen City Intermediate People’s Court upheld the original conviction and sentence on August 26, 2020. Liu had been convicted and sentenced on April 24, 2020 by Dongbao District Court in Jingmen City for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”. Liu Yanli was formerly an employee at a bank in Jingmen City, Hubei province and a blogger. In recent years, she has repeatedly posted comments online calling for support for the army veterans who fought during the Anti-Japan (Second World) War. She also called for disclosure of officials’ assets. She established over 160 WeChat groups to raise awareness about social justice issues.

Authorities in Myanmar’s restive Rakhine state have arrested three students from the Rakhine Student Union for ignoring a law against large gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic by participating in a protest against the Myanmar government’s 15-month internet ban on eight townships in the state.

Toe Toe Aung, Kyang Naing Htay and Oo Than Naing staged their protest Wednesday in front of the Rakhine state government office building in the state capital Sittwe, holding signs critical of the government and military. They were arrested mid-protest and were officially charged with violating the Natural Disaster Management Act Thursday evening.

According to Myanmar’s military, the government ban on internet service to townships where Myanmar forces have been fighting the rebel Arakan Army (AA) since December 2018 keeps government troop movements secret while dampening speech that incites ethnic tensions.

The policy has however hampered aid workers helping war refugees and left people uninformed about the coronavirus pandemic.

The director of a local legal support group told RFA’s Myanmar Service that charging the students out of concern for public health was disingenuous.

“It is totally irrelevant to charge these students using the Natural Disaster Management Act. They were holding a protest. They didn’t do anything else, so it is obvious the authorities are trying to indict them for protesting,” Nyein Chan of the Thazin Legal Aids group said.

“Are they going to charge other crimes like robbery or murder that occur during this pandemic under that same law? We should question them. They are manipulating the law to prosecute these students,” said Nyein Chan.

The Legal Clinic Myanmar office told RFA it would provide legal services for the arrested trio.

“These students have asked us for legal help. We are cooperating with other CSOs to give the students the help they need. Well will try to prevent them from being charged by irrelevant laws,” said Mya Thuzar, an attorney at the clinic.

“As we are now in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, things are so unstable. So, we will make sure they will not fall into the wrong hands,” Mya Thuzar said.

Unlawful arrests

A Sittwe University Student Union official told RFA the three students were arrested in unlawful ways.

“We are pointing out the wrongdoings of the government and military. I would like to appeal to prosecute them lawfully. They say no one is above the law, whether that is the state government or anyone else,” said the student union’s vice-chair Bhone Pyae Phyo.

“The law is the law. They should apply the law equally to everyone, so I would like to appeal to the authorities to handle the case lawfully,” said Bhone Pyae Phyo.

Aung Than Wai, a Sittwe resident, told RFA that arresting the students goes against democratic ideals.

“The ruling government said they are working to maintain the rule of law, but they always detain everyone who speaks against them. This is very undemocratic,” said Aung Than Wai.

“They always try to silence us. We all know how many townships in Rakhine state are under an internet ban and for how long. These students are just trying to highlight that. The government is always trying to control all of us. This is a clear persecution of the people,” the Sittwe resident said.

At least 289 civilians have been killed and 641 injured in Rakhine state and in Paletwa township of neighboring Chin state since hostilities between the AA and the national army escalated in December 2018, according to an RFA tally.

Students charged in Mandalay

Meanwhile, in other parts of the country, police in Mandalay charged 15 college students from the All Burma Student Union when they also staged protests demanding an end to armed conflicts and the Rakhine internet ban.

Ba Chit, a student who got charged by the authorities told RFA, “They summoned me to come for interrogations. They didn’t arrest me. They asked for the details of the protests.”

“They also asked about our activities in the past. They asked me to sign a proclamation that we wouldn’t protest again but I refused. They said I was free to go,” Ba Chit said.

Kyaw Thiha Ye Kyaw, another member of the student union in Mandalay, told RFA, “I and the other members are still in our college. I told the police I would not come.”

“If they come to take me in person, I will go with them. But I will not back down. We are protesting against the 2008 Constitution. So, we will not acknowledge any charges under the constitution,” the student said.

RFA attempted to contact the police station in Mandalay for comment but were unsuccessful.

On June 5, 2020, the People’s Court of Heshigten Banner of Southern (Inner) Mongolia tried two Mongolian activists, Mr. Tsogjil and Mr. Haschuluu, who organized local Mongolian herders to protest the government’s illegal appropriation of their grazing land. Jail sentences of eight months and four months were handed down to Tsogjil and Haschuluu respectively for “rallying the public to petition the government, obstructing official business, videotaping and posting untrue stories, and transferring edited video footage to foreign organizations.”

“Defendant Tsogjil, male, born on March 4, 1979” and “defendant Haschuluu, male, born on October 23, 1978” were sentenced for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” according to the criminal verdict issued by the Heshigten Banner People’s Court.

“Criminal tools used: one long banner and one cellular phone that were already confiscated,” the verdict added.

“They are totally innocent,” Mr. O. Sechenbaatar, who himself was released from a year of house arrest recently after being detained for two weeks for supporting the protest in the neighboring Ongniuud Banner, said in an audio statement. “What they did was nothing but to legally file complaints about the local government’s illegal land grab and stage protests to urge the local Public Security Bureau to release detained herders and activists including myself.”

Under the Chinese authorities’ “bail pending trial” for over a year, the two activists were deprived of their basic rights to mobility and communication after being released from their initial detention last year.

“The trial was carried out pretty much behind a closed door,” O. Sechenbaatar told the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center. “The crimes they were accused of committing were rallying people to demand the release of detained herders; inviting Ms. Yanjindulam (also knowns as Naranhuaar), a herder's leader, to join the protest; posting protest video footage on WeChat and sending information to foreign hostile forces.”

Tsogjil, a native of Heshigten Banner, had actively been advocating Southern Mongolians’ rights to use their native language; access their land, water, and other resources; and maintain national identity. He founded and managed at least five discussion groups with a total membership of nearly 2,500 Mongolian herders and grassroots activists on China’s only available social media outlet WeChat.

Before his arrest in April 2019, Tsogjil rallied the Mongolian herders for the release of the detained writer O. Sechenbaatar in one of his WeChat discussion groups called “Language, Livestock, and National Boundary.” “I ask our fellow herders from each and every village to gather in front of the banner government tomorrow to demand the immediate release of O. Sechenbaatar,” he wrote.

“O. Sechenbaatar went to jail for defending our land and rights. We all must wake up and take up the fight to protect our homeland,” Tsogjil said in the discussion group. “The authorities can arrest one of us, a few of us, but cannot arrest all of us.”

“Haschuluu was accused of committing similar crimes, including his involvement in last year’s public protest in front of the banner government and demanding my release,” O. Sechenbaatar said.

“What is truly revealing is the family members of the two were told by the court that the decision was handed down from the above. This means the government is above the law, and the law is a tool for the government officials to punish those who protest the government’s abuse of power,” O. Sechenbaatar added.

According to online discussions posted by local herders from Heshigten Banner, Haschuluu lived with his 80-year-old mother who is left without anyone's care after his trial despite her poor health.

The cost of exercising one’s constitutional right to protest in Mumbai has been fixed at Rs 50 lakh.

The Mumbai police has issued a notice seeking surety of a whopping Rs 50 lakh from a 24-year-old student and cultural activist Suvarna Salve for participating in an impromptu protest in January, organised in Mumbai in the wake of the attack on students and faculty members inside the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus.

While this is the only FIR ever registered against Salve, the Mumbai police have also decided to classify her as a “habitual offender” and initiate another administrative procedure of “externment” against her.

Salve, a lead singer and activist of the cultural troop Samata Kala Manch, was one of the 31 persons to be booked by the MRA Marg police for participating in a peaceful rally from Hutatma Chowk to Gateway of India in South Mumbai on January 6. Over 300 people from across Mumbai had joined the rally which was organised in protest against the violent attack on students in JNU campus by activists belonging to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS’s) students’ wing, Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

The Mumbai police’s decision to slap FIRs against activists in the city had attracted severe criticism. Rights activists and political leaders had termed the Mumbai police’s action as excessive and also equated it with the Delhi police which had remained a “mute spectator” and done nothing to control the masked mob that roamed around freely for almost three hours in the JNU campus but later had booked the victims instead.

In Mumbai, the protest was organised at two separate spots, just a few kilometres apart. The police have filed two separate FIRs – one at MRA Marg police station and another at Colaba police station – for those attending the protests. In both places, several prominent figures like former Bombay high court judge B.G. Kolse-Patil, and actor Sushant Singh had participated. When the rally soon transformed into a sit-in protest at Gateway of India and more and more people joined in support, state ministers like Jitendra Awhad visited the spot to negotiate with protestors.

While the initial decision was to not take criminal action against the protestors, the police had eventually changed their stance. In all 31 persons have been named in the FIR and have been booked under section 141, 143 and 149 (unlawful assembly) and 341 (wrongful restraint) of the Indian Penal Code, along with section 37 of the Bombay Police Act, 1951.

All sections are bailable and punishable for less than six months. Prominent persons were excluded from the FIR and only student activists and some lawyers were named. Some of them even claimed that they were not present at the protest site but were still named in the FIR.

Despite of filing a case of unserious nature, the police have sought an unusually high surety, and more strangely have demanded it only from Salve. The notice, issued on August 24, has sought an explanation as to why Salve a proceeding should not be initiated against her under Section 110 (e) of the CrPC. The notice also seeks at least one of two persons to appear as a “surety”, pledging an amount of Rs 50 lakh, ensuring her good behaviour for the next two years. If she fails, the amount or the property would be confiscated by the state.

Salve says this is done to discourage her from participating in any political activism in the future. “This is done clearly with an intention to harass,” she said. “There were several influential people who had participated in the protest but they chose to go behind one student activist. They know I will never be able to furnish such surety ever. I belong to a Dalit community, and stay in a slum rehabilitation housing,” she pointed out.

Since her college days, Salve has been a vocal anti-caste voice, participating in protests and students’ agitation across India. In 2016, when Rohith Vemula, a PhD scholar at University of Hyderabad, was allegedly killed in an “institutional murder”, Salve joined the Joint Action Committee (JAC) formed to fight for justice for Vemula and other Bahujan students facing discrimination in campuses.

In the past years, when anti-caste organisations and political parties like Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi called for a bandh in the state, Salve like several other activists was served a notice under Section 144 of the CrPC against participating in any public gathering. “There has been a systematic attempt made to curtail dissenting voices. Like me, several other Ambedkarite activists have been served such notices,” she said.

Her lawyer Ishrat Ali Khan says the police’s decision to classify her as an “habitual offender” also stems from the same mentality. “Look at the crime here – organising and participating in a peaceful protest. From no stretch of imagination can an individual exercising their right to expression and protest be termed as a habitual offender,” he said.

Section 110 of the CrPC, also in legal parlance called as “chapter proceedings” is initiated against those who have been booked in multiple crimes. An executive clause, the proceedings under this section is initiated by the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) level officer and if convicted, the person is externed for a stipulated period of time outside the district limit.

Several researchers have pointed to its discriminatory nature and how it gets disproportionately used against marginalised identities like Dalits and Denotified Tribes. In most cases, it is noticed that the executive officials hearing the case convict the person and the individual then has to move the high court to get their name cleared. This is a tedious process, requiring both resources and patience.

Khan, in his over a decade of experience handling cases under this section, said he had never seen the section being slapped against someone for protesting. “The subsections cover several crimes like theft, dacoity and extortion. The police claim to use it against “hardened criminals”, something that Salve or any dissenting activists don’t qualify for, he said.

The Network of Women in Media, India, condemns the online abuse and harassment of Chennai-based journalist Kavin Malar. The relentless abuse, personal attacks and doxing (a practice where personal identifying information is broadcast online) by droves of trolls are part of growing attempts on social media to silence vocal women journalists in India. Facebook’s reluctance to take down these posts and the delay by the police in registering a complaint have only emboldened online harassers.

After Kavin wrote some comments online about what she felt were political motives behind the arrests of members of YouTube group Karuppar Koottam and, in a different instance, posted in support of another journalist being trolled online, a Bharatiya Janata Party functionary, Kalyanaraman, named Kavin as being anti-BJP. Facebook users who appear to support the BJP flooded her timeline and harassed her for weeks.

On August 9, a user named Sasi Kumar posted two photographs of Kavin with the words “My rate is 1000 rupees”. Soon afterwards, she began to get obscene calls and messages on Facebook from other users. Kavin is a journalist of solid credibility. The implication that she is soliciting is a condemnable attempt to malign her journalistic identity and reputation.

When Kavin and several others reported the post and photograph to Facebook, the social media platform refused to take any action, saying the post was not against their community standards. It was only after over 10 days that Facebook removed the photo. Other abusive comments remain online. So does Sasi Kumar’s profile.

Responding to Kavin’s complaint and the solidarity that poured in for her, on August 17 the Chennai Cyber Crime cell registered a case under Sections 354-D of the Indian Penal Code, and Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act, 1998.

Kavin is an independent Tamil journalist who has been harassed for her courageous reportage on caste discrimination, communal violence and gender rights. She was harassed online in 2013, too, while covering the death of a Dalit man who married a Vanniyar woman in Dharmapuri. NWMI had written to the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu demanding action. It was only when Kavin went to court that the police filed a complaint against her harasser, self-proclaimed political analyst Kishore K Swamy, under court orders.

This March, the police closed the 2013 case saying the abusive comments were “undetected”, when many are still clearly online. Swamy, meanwhile, continues to harass several journalists, especially women and the few mainstream Tamil journalists not from the upper caste. There are at least five police complaints against Swamy, with no proportionate action.

Such police inaction allows online abusers to attack women journalists with impunity. Investigations must be completed and justice done for the internet to be a safer space for all.

Abusive and targeted content in non-English languages is a distressing reality for Indian journalists. Although the recent post was in English, Kavin often faces attacks from social media users who post in Tamil. These abusive comments often escape the notice of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter moderators.

NWMI asks that social media platforms find ways to quell harassment in regional languages, whether with multilingual moderators or better translation algorithms.

Journalists across the world face threats and insults on social networks, from ordinary trolls or professional ones, in an obvious attempt to silence them. Some Indian political leaders have lauded these trolls as “warriors” and have endorsed their synchronised attacks by following their accounts or even offering them positions in their political parties.

Online harassers especially target investigative and female journalists. Doxing endangers reporters and their families. Its psychological effects on the victim and other journalists can lead to self-censorship or leaving social networks which have today become essential to journalistic work. Such online harassment can act as a deterrent to journalists, preventing them from doing their duty.

Our demands:

Chennai police must immediately begin credible investigations into the complaint.
Facebook must promptly take down obscene posts and remove the profiles of serial abusers.
Social media platforms must develop effective moderation procedures that enable quick action on such online attacks, especially on women journalists and those from disadvantaged social groups. 

A well-known Kazakh civil rights activist, Erbol Eskhozhin, has been fined for publicly calling police officers "Nazarbaev's puppies."

Nursultan Nazarbaev is Kazakhstan’s former president who ruled the Central Asian nation for almost 30 years before he resigned in March 2019. He continues to control the country as the leader of the ruling Nur-Otan party and the lifetime chairman of the powerful Security Council.

A court in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, on September 14 found Eskhozhin guilty of insulting police and fined him $530, his lawyer Olga Enns told RFE/RL.

Eskhozhin called the police "Nazarbaev's puppies" when law enforcement officers were dispersing demonstrators in Nur-Sultan, the capital, during protests early this year.

Eskhozhin said he will not pay the fine, adding that the court's decision will be appealed and that the case against him is politically motivated.

"I can't pay the fine, even if they jail me.... The ruling indicates that the authorities are scared of the increasing number of civil rights activists in the country. People do not have as much fear now," Eskhozhin said.

Since last year, the 43-year-old activist has been sentenced six times to several days in jail for taking part in unsanctioned rallies and, in all, has spent 85 days in jail.

A Kazakh court has upheld the conviction and sentencing of an activist found guilty of spreading “false information” about the coronavirus.

The Almaty city court on September 15 upheld a decision by a lower court to sentence Alnur Ilyashev to three years of restricted freedom, a parolelike limitation, and ban him from social or political activism for five years.

Ilyashev was detained on April 17 after he wrote on Facebook that authorities in Kazakhstan, including those in the ruling Nur Otan party, have been corrupt and incompetent in their response to the coronavirus outbreak.

The 43-year-old activist spent more than two months in custody before being released after the initial court verdict was handed down in June.

Amnesty International slammed the sentence as “absurd” and as a sign that the government is not tolerating criticism.

The Clooney Foundation for Justice is disappointed that the Almaty City Court has upheld the conviction of Alnur Ilyashev for criticizing the ruling Nur Otan party on Facebook. As CFJ made clear in the amicus brief it filed with the appeal court, Mr. Ilyashev’s trial, which was conducted virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was unfair, and his conviction violated his right to freedom of expression. CFJ hopes this unjust result will be reversed upon further review.

Shaheena Shaheen Baloch, a Baloch woman journalist, was shot and killed in Kech, Balochistan on Saturday. Shaheen was a morning host at at PTV and was the Editor of Balochi magazine Dazgohar.

She had been getting death threats and warnings by the Baloch militants to leave her job. However, she did not submit to the threats.

The police has started an investigation in the matter. Turbat police has now claimed that Shaheen was killed by her own husband in what appears to be a case of ‘honor killing’. The suspect has not been arrested yet. A case has been registered and the area has been sealed for further investogations.

As per the local reports, the incident took place at a housing quarter in Turbat and unidentified men left her body at a private hospital. However, these reports have not been confirmed by the local police yet.

The body was dropped off to a a government hospital for medical formalities by an unknown person.

A supporter of gender equality, Shaheen was known to campaign for women’s empowerment in Balochistan.

Before Shaheen, another Pakistan's journalist Sajid Gondal, too, went missing from Islamabad who was being questioned on social media for his rumoured ties with Ahmed Noorani.

The South Sulawesi water and police unit have arrested three student journalists in Makassar while they were covering a protest to reject sand mining on Saturday, September 12. The authorities released them on Sunday, September 13. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) stands in solidarity with its affiliate the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) Indonesia to demand an investigation into the arrest. The student journalists arrested were Hendra, the chairman of press student at the Hasanuddin University, Mansyur, the chief editor of CakrawalaIde at the Muslim Indonesia University, and Muhammad Raihan Rahman, who also a member of the CakrawalaIde publication.

The young journalists joined fishermen on their boat to protest sandmining on Kodingareng island. On the way back to Makassar, the boat was blocked by water and police unit vessels. Although the three student journalists showed their identity cards and a letter of assignment, the officers still arrested them. They were also reportedly intimidated and harassed before being escorted to the police office.

Sand mining is a controversial activity in Indonesia. Sand mining is a controversial activity in Indonesia. The operations of sand mining has impacted the fishermen and the coastal communities in the country.

The Indonesian Safety Committee for Journalists, which also supported by AJI Indonesia as its member, has condemned the arrest and remind the police that journalists are protected by the Press Law. According to the Press Law, everyone found guilty in obstructing journalists’ works will be sentenced to jail for two years at the maximum or charged with a maximum fine of IDR500 million or US$33,000.

“The Committee calls the police to investigate the officers who obstructed and intimidated the journalists. The Committee urges all the authorities to respect journalists who are on duty,” Committee added.

Journalist Jobert “Polpog” Bercasio was shot dead as he was riding a scooter in Sorgoson City, Sorgoson, Luzon on the evening of September 14. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) in condemning the killing and calls on the authorities to conduct a swift investigation and bring the perpetrators to justice.

Bercasio, a former radio reporter who ran his own Balangibog TV channel on social media, was killed by two gunmen riding in tandem on a motorcycle. The police found empty casings of an M16 rifle at the crime scene. According to Sorsogon City Police Chief Supt. Benito Dipad, Bercasio died on the spot.

Bercasio hosted a program broadcast via Facebook live and commented on social issues, including illegal logging. He has been described as a “hard-hitting” commentator. An hour before the killing, Bercasio wrote on his personal Facebook page about the irregular movement of trucks from a “quarry area” in Bulan town.

According to NUJP, Bercasio is the 17th journalist killed under President Rodrigo Duterte's rule and the 189th since 1986. This year, he is the second journalist killed, after radio host Cornelio “Rex Cornelio” Pepino was gunned down by two men on separate motorcycles in Dumaguete City on May 5, just days after World Press Freedom Day.

NUJP said: “NUJP stresses again that we see no official government policy at work in the continuing murder of journalists and other attacks on the press. But the general disinterest, apathy even, in solving and, just as important, bringing an end to media killings and the harassment of journalists have served to embolden those who seek to silence those in the profession of truth.”

Environmental group Mother Nature’s founder alleges that the advocacy group’s Facebook page was hijacked after authorities arrested three activists earlier this month, one of whom was a page administrator.

Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson, who was deported in 2015 and blocked from reentering the country, said he realized the group’s Facebook page was compromised on September 4, when he found an email saying he had been removed as a page administrator.

The Spain-based activist said he received the email at 1:20 a.m. in his local time, one day after three Mother Nature activists were arrested while producing a campaign video to call for lake Boeng Tamok’s conservation. Gonzalez-Davidson said he suspected that the activists were threatened or coerced to give authorities the password to the group’s Facebook page.

He sent a request to Facebook to suspend the page temporarily, as well as the personal pages of the three detained activists, Thun Ratha, Long Kunthea and Phuong Keorasmey, he said.

“I hope that in two or three weeks, I can manage the Mother Nature pages again,” Gonzalez-Davidson said.

Via a public relations representative in Cambodia, Facebook said it had received a request from a human rights actor to suspend the Mother Nature Cambodia page after some members, including a page administrator, were detained by government security officials. The company said it had secured the page under the same procedures it follows when a page is hacked.

Phnom Penh municipal police spokesperson San Sokseyha said he was not familiar with the specifics of the Mother Nature case, but in general the police would confiscate all evidence related to a case, including technology, and then the court has the “right to investigate” the accused persons’ devices.

Chea Pov, the head of the Interior Ministry’s technology crimes department, did not respond to questions.

Gonzalez-Davidson activist also said he had noticed two pages trying to impersonate Mother Nature Cambodia: a page called Father of Nature Cambodia with 1,447 followers, and another called Mother of Nature Cambodia with 708 followers. Both pages, which were started on June 17 and 18, respectively, have profile pictures stylized like Mother Nature’s logo.

Gonzalez-Davidson called the impersonating accounts “crude,” but he said he is hoping the social media company will remove the accounts. The accounts remained active as of Monday morning, but neither had posted since September 1, when both accounts posted the same four nature photos.

Based on archived links in Google searches, the real advocacy group page had more than 353,000 followers, and Gonzalez-Davidson said in a Facebook post that the group’s videos had been seen more than 20 million times over the past four years.

Among its campaigns, the groups’ sustained criticism of sand mining in Koh Kong province for export preceded Cambodia’s decision to ban sand exports for environmental reasons.

Another activist was arrested in Phnom Penh on Thursday as the U.N., international rights groups and dozens of local civil society organizations condemned the government�s �campaign of fear and repression� against human rights defenders.

Police arrested Muong Sopheak on Sothearos Blvd. in Chamkarmorn district�s Tonle Bassac commune around 3 p.m. by court order for incitement to disturb social security, municipal police spokesperson San Sokseyha said on Friday.

His brother, Muong Sony, said Sopheak had been taken by authorities from outside the minor Khmer Will Party�s headquarters. Sopheak and Sony both belong to the Khmer Student Intelligent League Association, two other members of which were arrested last weekend in relation to protests in support of jailed unionist Rong Chhun.

Sopheak�s arrest marks at least 10 activists arrested over the past month amid a series of small street protests, most in support of Chhun. At least four of those detained were members of youth activist group Khmer Thavrak.

Chhun was arrested in late July after alleging that Cambodia was losing territory to Vietnam along their shared border, a controversial and ethnically charged issue.

In a statement on Friday, the U.N.�s human rights office said it had documented the arrests of 24 human rights defenders since Chhun�s arrest, 12 of whom remained in detention.

Several activists also reported being followed and receiving threatening phone calls, including death threats, it said. �Numerous human rights defenders are currently in hiding for fear of being arrested.�

�The current situation marks a deepening of the Government�s intolerance to dissent and repression of the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association,� it said, calling on the government to release the arrested activists and end the intimidation against civil society actors.

Human Rights Watch deputy Asia director Phil Robertson also called for the activists� release in a statement on Friday, and urged Prime Minister Hun Sen to �end the de facto ban on critical protests in Phnom Penh.� On Thursday, Amnesty International condemned the arrests as �a shocking, all-out assault on Cambodia�s youth.�

Thirty-nine civil society groups signed a similar statement earlier this week. �We urge the government to end its campaign of fear and repression against peaceful youth and environmental human rights defenders,� they said on Wednesday.

The government�s permanent mission in Geneva this week responded to related criticism from U.N. envoy Rhona Smith.

�Cambodia cherishes freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly in line with the law, and is deeply conscious that plurality of voices, including the critical one, matters in the development of the country,� it said in a statement, according to state media outlet Agence Kampuchea Presse. �However, article 31 of the Constitution of Cambodia underscores that exercise of personal rights and freedom by any individual shall not adversely affect rights and freedom of others. The exercise of such rights and freedom shall be in accordance with the law.�

Vietnam�s security forces continue the persecution against the unregistered professional group Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam (IJAVN) after arresting its key members, conducting summoning some other members for interrogation in recent days.

Mr. Hoang Van Hung from Hanoi said he was summoned by the Security Investigation Agency of the Hanoi Police Department to its office on September 1 for questioning about his membership to the organization and his activities as well as writing for its website vietnamthoibao.org.

During the interrogation, Mr. Hung admitted that he is a member of IJAVN and has some articles posted on its website, however, he did not remember details of his writing. He refused to give other details, including the passwords of his accounts on Gmail and other online applications.

Several days later, Mr. Nguyen Thien Nhan, a member of the IJAVN�s Board Management was also summoned to the Security Investigation Agency of Ho Chi Minh City�s Police Department for questioning on September 8. During the interrogation which lasted from 8 am to 5 pm, police officers gave numerous questions about the IJAVN and his involvement in the organization. However, he did not give details as the investigators requested him to keep the content of the interrogation unpublicized.

Nhan said before going to the questioning meeting, he gave his phones and laptop to his trusted friend so the interrogators had no access to them. Police told him that he has to undergo other interrogations in the future.

The IJAVN was established in 2014 with the aim to work for freedom of the press in the one-party regime. Numerous articles of its members have criticized the regime on various issues, including human rights abuse, systemic corruption, widespread environmental pollution due to the regime�s unstable economic development, the government weak response to China�s violations to the country�s sovereignty in the East Sea (South China Sea), bad economic policies, etc.

The communist government probably is affected by such articles so it is striving to silence the IJAVN. Along with using technology to attack IJAVN�s website, Vietnam�s security forces have been implementing series of measures to persecute its members, from preventing them to gather or meet with foreign diplomats to arresting a number of its key members.

In early November last year, HCM City Police Department arrested its President Dr. Pham Chi Dung, who was honored with the Information Hero award of the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF), and charged with �conducting anti-state propaganda� under Article 117 of the Criminal Code with imprisonment of between seven to 12 years or even up to 20 years. Next year, on May 23, the police arrested acting President Nguyen Tuong Thuy after detaining blogger Pham Chi Thanh (penname Pham Thanh) two days earlier. The two independent writers at their 70-year age were charged with the same allegation. The persecution against the organization continues with the arrest of another member named Le Huu Minh Tuan on June 12, and police threaten to detain more members of the organization in a bid to expand the case.

Vietnam, placed at 175th out of 180 countries in the Press Freedom Index of RSF in 2020, has arrested 18 bloggers so far this year, 12 of them were charged with �conducting anti-state propaganda� and four others were alleged of �abusing democratic freedom� for criticizing the communist government.

Well-known human rights activist Huynh Thuc Vy has reported that authorities in Vietnam�s Central Highlands province of Dak Lak have requested a local Catholic school not to accept her 4-year-old daughter as a reprisal for her political activities.

On September 1, Vy took her kid to the school to start the academic year. The kid had been enrolled here since the beginning of this year. However, a nun at the school told the young mother that the school cannot accept the kid because �Many people had told me about you, now I can no longer accept Tue Nha in our school.�

The nun added �� the school and I will be negatively affected if we admit your daughter� without specifying who from the local authorities have made the threats.

However, in an interview given to an independent journalist, the nun from the Huong Duong kindergarten in Vinh Duc diocese has rejected all Vy�s accusations, saying she is just concerned about Vy�s current status of being closely chased by the local police.

Vy, who was sentenced to 33 months of prison for �insulting Vietnam�s communist flag� in 2018 but her imprisonment was suspended due to her maternity for their second child, said several years ago, a local policeman threatened them not to permit their first kid to attend local schools. The couple is preparing for that but still want to send their daughter in order to help it make friends with other kids.

Her husband Le Duy has said that the couple was preparing for that so they will teach their kid at home with an American program different from the program offered by the communist regime which is mostly propaganda for the ruling communist party.

Vy is born in a dissident family. Her father Huynh Ngoc Tuan was a former prisoner of conscience, spending ten years in prison after being convicted of �conducting anti-state propaganda� for criticizing the communist regime. She was a co-founder of the unregistered group Vietnam Women for Human Rights and held its presidency for many years in the past.

Due to her human rights activities and political engagement, Vy, who was honored with the Human Rights Watch (HRW)�s Hellman-Hammett award in 2012 for her writing, has been under persecution by the communist regime for years. She was kidnapped and beaten as well as being chased by authorities in Ho Chi Minh City and her native province of Quang Nam. In Lam Dong, she has been regularly summoned for questioning. Authorities have also striving to halt their economic activities.

A number of international human rights groups such as the New York-based Human Rights Watch, the London-based Amnesty International, and the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) have called on Vietnam to stop its persecution against Mrs. Vy, who is considered one of the talented young activists in the Southeast Asian nation.

Vy is among 275 prisoners of conscience to Defend the Defenders� list.

In Vietnam, the communists are striving to keep the country under a one-party regime and make all tricks and measures to silence the local dissent, including long-term imprisonment, de facto under house arrest, summoning to police stations for interrogation and economic blockade as well as harassing their relatives.

The Delhi Police on Tuesday arrested Sharjeel Imam in connection with the riots in the city in February, Indian Express has reported. Imam has been booked under sections of the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

Booked under the sedition law for a speech in which he had called for a chakka jam, Imam was arrested from Bihar�s Jehanabad on January 28.

He was brought to Guwahati from Delhi in January and has been in Guwahati Jail since then. On July 22, Sharjeel tested positive for COVID-19 and was among 435 inmates of the jail who did so.

He was brought back to Delhi from Assam on Sunday on a production warrant, Express has reported.

Imam, a PhD scholar at the Jawaharlal Nehru University and an IIT alumnus, had been actively involved in the Shaheen Bagh protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

In late April, Delhi Police has booked Imam under the UAPA in connection with the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act near Jamia Millia Islamia in December last year.

Imam has been booked under section 13 (unlawful activities) of the Act in the case, his counsel advocate Mishika Singh had said. The lawyer said the charge has been invoked to delay his release.

The police had earlier charged Imam with sedition, alleging his speech promoted enmity between people that led to riots.

�He was arrested in two cases of violence at Jamia on December 13 and 15, 2019, for instigating and abetting the Jamia riots, due to his seditious speech on December 13 and based on evidences collected, IPC sections 124 A and 153 A were also invoked,� Anil Mittal, additional PRO, Delhi Police had said then.

In late June, 13 United Nations independent experts called on India to immediately release activists who were arrested for protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act. In a statement issued from Geneva, it had named Imam among others.

The Delhi high court in early July said there were �good and justifiable grounds� for extending the time to complete investigation against Imam in a case related to his allegedly �inflammatory speeches� during the anti-CAA protests. Justice V. Kameswar Rao had dismissed Iman�s plea challenging the trial court�s June 25 order granting three more months to the Delhi Police, beyond the statutory 90 days, to complete the case�s investigation under the UAPA.

The Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) has reported that a 16-year-old student in Bangkok was summoned by a teacher after making a speech at the student protest on 5 September. She was asked to give the names of schoolmates who joined the protest and not to make any speeches again out of concern for the school�s reputation.

Tan (alias) said she was summoned to a meeting room on 8 September by her classroom teacher. There, she met another teacher who she had never studied with. There was no other state agent present.

According to Tan, the teacher asked her the reason for making a speech on the stage in student uniform. She gave the teacher details about the protest and their demands which related to education. She had also concealed the school name on her uniform while taking part in the protest.

The teacher said that her appearance on the stage had affected the school�s reputation. The teacher also said that a speech calling for the legalization of prostitution is improper. Tan said the talk went smoothly without any verbal assault but she felt that the teacher did not try to understand her reasons.

The teacher also asked her repeatedly during the talk not to take the stage again, claiming that her mother would be disappointed and that she might face danger. Tan responded that her mother allowed her to join the protest. Regardless of her answer, the teacher called her mother to talk about her participation.

Tan said her mother is quite open-minded and accepts her decision. However, her mother is concerned about her life at school and whether she would be monitored or expelled. The teacher still did not say anything about punishment.

Tan, along with some of her friends at school who are interested in politics took part in organizing the �#I Know I�m Bad� protest in front of the Ministry of Education (MOE) on 5 September along with 49 other student groups. It has been very rare to see Thai school students taking part in political activities.

The students stated their 3 demands: stop the harassment of students, cancel outdated rules, and comprehensive education reform. They also gave an ultimatum that Education Minister Nataphol Teepsuwan must resign if he fails to meet the demands.

Student harassment by teachers is one of the lingering problems in the Thai education system. Despite MOE regulations forbidding punishment that involves the use of force or violence, verbal and physical assaults are still seen from time to time in the news.

Students have been expressing their political opinions and anti-dictatorship calls in line with waves of countrywide pro-democracy protests since the first landmark protest in Bangkok on 18 July. After a large protest on 16 August, students in many schools showed their symbolic support by raising 3 fingers and wearing white ribbons. Many faced suppression and negative reactions from teachers as a result.

In August, TLHR reported at least 103 cases of harassment of students expressing their support for democracy.

A man claiming to be a police officer visited the home of Chettha Klindee, a Mahasarakham University (MSU) student activist, without showing any identity documents. He threatened his family to make him delete a Facebook post taken from an official source. The health of his already sickening grandmother has worsened.

The Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported that the visit took place on 5 September. A man wearing a flak jacket with the Thai national flag on the chest went to his home in Surin Province while his grandmother was there. After a short talk, she called Chettha�s father to speak to him.

The man showed Chettha's Facebook post, alleging that he had violated the monarchy. The man also demanded that Chettha stop talking about the monarchy otherwise he would find him and prosecute him. The man also took a photo of Chettha�s father before leaving.

Chettha shared a news report from The Standard about the Royal Gazette announcement restoring all official titles of Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi, the Royal Consort. The visit caused him confusion as the news is official and he did not add any caption.

According to his father, the man did not show any identity documents. Chettha�s father asked a relative who works as a police officer in Surin Police Station but did not get any confirmation of any police deployment from there. It is likely that the man is not from the Surin station.

Chettha said his 70-year-old grandmother could not sleep on the night after the visit. She was ill the following morning; as she already has many illnesses, his uncle had to take her to the doctor. Chettha tried to explain to her that he did not share anything illegal. However, not knowing about Facebook, she still did not understand very well.

Chettha is a College of Politics and Governance (COPAG) student at MSU. He is a member of the MSU Student Front for Democracy, a student activist group that has taken part in organizing many anti-government protests at MSU and in other provinces.

According to the TLHR, he was visited in a similar manner on 24 June in order to convince him not to hold a commemoration of the 88th anniversary of the 1932 democratic revolution at Surin provincial hall. 3 policemen and the village chief warned him that any illegal act would be prosecuted. The village chief also referred to the 6 October 1976 massacre at Thammasat University in a threatening manner.

The organizing members were concerned about that visit and decided to cancel the event.

Pro-democracy activists and protesters have faced many reprisals by agents of the state, alleging violations of the Emergency Decree, the sedition law and traffic and cleanliness-related laws. Informal harassment like visiting families and schools to deter people from expressing their political opinions has also been reported.

Since the implementation of the Emergency Decree on 26 March 2020, at least 63 people in 20 cases have been charged related to political expression. At least 14 people have been summoned, and some have been arrested after participating in the mass protest on 18 July.

A high school student has been summoned by the police for participating in an anti-government protest in Ratchaburi on 1 August and accused of violating the Emergency Decree and the Public Assembly Act.

The student activist group Free Youth posted a picture of the summons on their Facebook page yesterday (9 September), stating that a 17-year-old high school student who participated in the anti-government protest in Ratchaburi on 1 August has received a police summons alongside 4 other university students, and that this is the first time since the mass protest on 18 July that the authorities have issued a summons for a high school student.

The summons states that the students are accused of violating the Emergency Decree and the Public Assembly Act and of using a sound amplifier in public without permission.

Student activists Panuwat Songsawatchai and Theerachai Rawiwat said that they also received a police summons for participating in the same demonstration.

�For what reason does a peaceful protest without arms by young people calling for a better future, something that is guaranteed by the 2017 constitution which the NCPO dictatorship themselves wrote and which enables this, lead to young people being summoned at this time?� wrote Free Youth on their Facebook page.

�Stop making the country darker than it already is by silencing young people and stopping them from demanding a brighter future. If we still have a twisted structure like the 2017 constitution, if we still have a government which disrespects the people in this way, a bright future for this country will be something that is difficult to bring about.�

Police have targeted seven unions and associations for a �survey� of employees and their documentation, though a police official said the project has been put on hold for now after investigating two of the groups.

Cambodian Independent Teachers Association (CITA) director Ouk Chhayavy said six officers came to investigate her organization on September 3, questioning her about the scope of its work.

�They should not come to ask because we have already submitted [documents] to the Interior Ministry about what sectors we work in,� Chhayavy said on Tuesday. �The goal of the survey is to threaten associations and unions.�

The government appeared to be cracking down on any group that might lead a protest, she said.

Rong Chhun, a unionist and former president of CITA, was arrested in late July over claims he made in a radio interview about Cambodia losing territory to Vietnam along the border. At least nine youth activists have been arrested since, some for protesting in support of Chhun.

Vorn Pao, president of tuk-tuk drivers union Independent Democracy of Informal Economic Association (IDEA), said his organization had been next in line for the survey.

According to Pao and a police document seen by VOD, the seven organizations listed on the survey notice were CITA, IDEA, labor rights group Central, the Cambodian Youth Network, the Coalition of Cambodian Farmer Community, and unions the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union and the Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions (CATU). CITA and CATU are the only groups that have been surveyed so far, according to Pao and a timetable on the document.

IDEA was scheduled for an inspection on Monday, but local authorities had delayed the survey, Pao said.

�They said they just want to update the number of Cambodian people, foreigners, workers, employees, and check the director�s documents and other personal documentation for the director � and ask each staff [for documentation],� he said.

He said he did not think the survey was legal. �It causes fear, because the political situation is getting more complicated,� he said.

A deputy Meanchey district police chief, listed as a contact on the survey document, said it was the job of authorities to oversee organizations.

�I instructed the local commune police and commune officials to make a report. � Our unit needs to know the structure of the NGOs, including director, deputy director and how many � we are a controlling unit.�

He added that the survey had been suspended, and hung up without giving his name.

Interior Ministry administration department director-general Prak Samoeun could not be reached for comment.

U.N. human rights special rapporteur Rhona Smith said in a Facebook post that she was monitoring the situation.

�I have also been closely following reports that seven different CSOs have been searched or informed of pending visits by the authorities since last week,� Smith said in the post, which also highlighted the arrests of three environmental activists on incitement charges.

Young rapper Kea Sokun, 22, was charged with incitement after his arrest on Friday, Siem Reap Provincial Court spokesperson Yin Srang said.

Sokun�s father Phal Kea, told VOD that Sokun had been arrested in relation to his rap song �Dey Khmer,� or Khmer Land.

The song, posted to YouTube in April, has been watched more than 270,000 times.

�If we run out of land, there is nothing left,� Sokun raps. �Listen to me calmly: Wake up, we are heroes, handcuffed to catch thieves. Destroy the exploiters, put them in jail and lock them up. Take our freedom. Don�t be afraid, do not panic.�

Kea said his son, who dropped out of school in the ninth grade, had written the song himself without any influence from political parties.

He had spoken to his son about the police questioning, which focused on who was behind the song, Kea said.

�He said they only asked about the song, who was behind it � which party do you belong to, and which party does it belong to,� Kea said.

Licadho monitoring manager Am Sam Ath said Sokun�s detention came amid a wave of arrests against young activists that could be considered violations of free expression.

�I don�t think anyone should detain him for the song, because this is a work of art,� Sam Ath said.

A group of four Khmer Thavrak protesters on Monday believed their tuk-tuk was being tailed by police on motorbikes and asked the driver to make random turns before heading to the U.N.�s human rights office for help. After about five hours, including two at the U.N. office hoping they could get refuge, one of the group was finally arrested outside her Chbar Ampov home, according to a member of the group.

Phnom Penh Municipal Police spokesperson San Sokseyha said on Tuesday that Eng Malai, also known as So Metta, was arrested based on a court order around 6 p.m. Monday in Chbar Ampov district. The court charged Metta with incitement to cause chaos in society, but he did not know if she had been sent to prison.

National Police spokesperson Chhay Kim Khoeun also confirmed that Metta was arrested yesterday evening and that the arrest was made based on a court order.

Metta was the fourth member of youth activism group Khmer Thavrak to be arrested since mid-August, with the group participating in a wave of protests to release unionist Rong Chhun. Chhun was arrested for making comments on the Cambodia-Vietnam border.

The Interior Ministry on Monday called the group�s activities illegal.

When San Sreyneat, a 39-year-old member of Khmer Thavrak, boarded a tuk-tuk with Metta and two other activists on Monday afternoon, she found herself followed by plainclothes officers for half a day leading to Metta�s arrest.

�We could not escape,� she told VOD on Tuesday. �If they want to arrest us, we cannot escape no matter where we go.�

Sreyneat said the group of four hired a tuk-tuk about 1:30 p.m., following Monday�s half-day rally, which was monitored by a crowd of authorities double the size of its protesters. Sreyneat�s group wanted to go home to Chbar Ampov from the Japanese and Chinese Friendship bridges, where protesters dispersed after being blocked by authorities, but she said they were afraid police would follow them home.

�I thought of going back home but when they kept following us, we decided not to go home, because we didn�t want them to know my house and come to disturb us at home,� she said.

Sreyneat said they noticed plainclothes officers were following the tuk-tuk, and activists asked the driver to make random turns in an attempt to throw officers off their tail. She said at least one motorbike followed the tuk-tuk for the entire afternoon, but there appeared to be up to six or seven motorbikes at some moments in their ride.

At one point, one of the four passengers urged the tuk-tuk to stop and asked the officers why they were following them.

The group eventually went to the U.N. human rights office in Chamkarmorn district�s Phsar Doeum Thkov commune, where they spent two hours talking with officials, Sreyneat said.

She said they knew they faced arrest upon leaving and the group asked an official for shelter, but the U.N. official denied the request, saying the development organization wouldn�t want to be accused of colluding with Khmer Thavrak or acting outside its role.

�I asked a U.N. officer to help monitor when we are being followed. I told them that I was being harassed and asked whether I could stay there or not, but they said they couldn�t allow that,� she said.

The U.N. did not respond to a request for comment about the events. Earlier on Monday, its human rights office expressed concern over the reported arrests, and said in an email that they were monitoring developments.

Sreyneat said the group left as the office closed, and when they arrived at the house in Prek Pra commune, Metta was immediately arrested by six plainclothes officers.

�I do not know why they arrested only Metta,� she said. �They think Metta is a leader who is inciting or whatever.�

Sreyneat said she was relatively new to the group, initially just supporting Khmer Thavrak from a distance before joining recent protests. She said she was nervous after being followed and then witnessing her colleague�s arrest, but Sreyneat said it was not enough to deter her.

�I am determined not to panic, and I have persuaded myself to be strong because we have not stolen or robbed anyone. We [campaign] for the nation and only demand justice, freedom and democracy,� she said. �So I have done nothing wrong and if [authorities] think of violating my rights � let them arrest [me] and let them be happy to arrest [me].�

Three activists � including a monk � were arrested over two days at a series of small protests ongoing in Phnom Penh, with the Interior Ministry ordering action against two groups �causing chaos in society.�

In a statement released on Monday, the Interior Ministry accused Khmer Thavrak and Mother Nature of inciting instability and disrupting security and public order.

They were �causing chaos in society using social media and some news media to broadcast articles, leaflets, photos and videos as well as holding demonstrations without legal permission,� the statement said. The groups were not registered as an association or NGO with the ministry, it added.

�The Interior Ministry would like to appeal to people to please not participate in the illegal activities of these groups,� it said, ordering relevant authorities to �take action in accordance with the law to guarantee public order and national security.�

They must prevent �all causes of anarchy and chaos in society as all Cambodian people celebrate Pchum Ben,� it said.

Khmer Thavrak has been engaged in a series of protests since last month, sparked by the arrest of unionist Rong Chhun in late July over comments he made alleging that Cambodia was losing land to Vietnam. In August, Khmer Thavrak attempted to march under the banner of �I Love the Nation,� a celebration of �patriotic heroes� arrested for protecting the country�s borders.

Six of its members were arrested last month after protests held in support of Chhun, and two of them, Chhoeun Daravy and Hun Vannak, have been charged with incitement and are still in jail.

A third member, Tha Lavy, was arrested on Monday.

National Police spokesperson Chhay Kim Khoeun confirmed the arrests of Lavy, Mean Prummony, and Koet Saray on Sunday and Monday amid protests in Phnom Penh.

Kim Khoeun said they had staged protests without permission and in violation of Covid-19 public health measures, but the reason for the arrests was that they had endangered national security.

�If it did not affect social security, [authorities] would not have made the arrests,� Kim Khoeun said.

�Their arrests are not related to their demonstration � don�t confuse it. It�s different,� he said, but declined to say what the national security concerns were.

Prummony and Saray � members of another group, the Khmer Student Intelligent League Association � were arrested on Sunday, while Lavy was arrested Monday, he said.

About 50 protesters gathered near Freedom Park in Russei Keo district on Monday around 8:30 a.m. They faced barricades and a force of about 100 officers from police, military police and security guards hired by local authorities.

After verbal exchanges and being pushed away from entering the park, the protesters walked to the U.S. Embassy to submit a petition before returning. Failing again to enter Freedom Park, the small protest disbanded around 1:30 p.m.

So Metta, a Khmer Thavrak activist who participated in the demonstration, said the authorities� actions violated their rights.

�Where is our freedom? This is a public place for people,� Metta said.

Muong Sopheak, a young protester, said the goal was to lead nonviolent demonstrations demanding social justice, and the participants had no intention to incite opposition against the state�s authority.

�I came to express myself peacefully,� Sopheak said.

In a statement on Saturday, Khmer Thavrak said it would protest every day until September 15. �The demonstrations we lead are an exercise of the freedoms stated in the Constitution of Cambodia, which is the nation�s top law,� it said.

Cambodian Center for Human Rights director Chak Sopheap, said the space for freedom was dwindling. Politicians, journalists, human rights defenders, unionists and ordinary people were finding it hard to fulfill their work without fear, she said.

�When people are afraid, there will be less accountability, and Cambodian governance will have no checks and balances,� Sopheap said.

The government should listen to people�s concerns and give them the opportunity to express themselves, she said.

One of the two activists arrested on Sunday, Saray, was a monk and therefore defrocked at Wat Botum ahead of his arrest, said Khim Sorn, Phnom Penh�s chief monk.

Monks may not hold demonstrations, Sorn said.

�When asked, he said holding demonstrations was his principle, and he has to do it, so we need to let him leave the monkhood to become an ordinary person,� he said.

Meanwhile, three activists from Mother Nature, an environment group, were arrested on Thursday amid plans to raise awareness around the conservation of Boeng Tamok, one of the capital�s �last lakes.�